Signal of vegetation variability found in regional-scale evapotranspiration as revealed by NDVI and assimilated atmospheric data in Asia

This study focused the relationship between the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and the evapotranspiration (ET) temporal changes. Especially, the interannual change of the NDVI and ET from 1982 to 2000 at regional to continental scales was highlighted mainly over Asia. Monthly global NDVI data were acquired from Pathfinder AVHRR Land (PAL) data (1$\times$1 degree resolution). The monthly ET was estimated from assimilated atmospheric data provided from National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) (2.5$\times$2.5 degree resolution), and gridded global precipitation data of CPC Merged Analysis of Precipitation (CMAP) (2.5$\times$2.5 degree resolution). Significant positive correlations were found between the NDVI and ET interannual changes in May and June over western Siberia. Moreover, it was revealed that the most of area in Asia has positive correlation coefficient in May and June. These results delineate that the vegetation activity significantly contributes to the ET interannual change over extensive areas.