Seasonality and trends of snow-cover, vegetation index, and temperature in northern Eurasia

[1] We examine seasonal variability in snow-cover, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), and temperature in a broad region of northern Eurasia, and the spatial and temporal correspondence among trends in these variables between 1982 and 1999. Our results support the contention that the previously reported springtime "greening'' trend in northern Eurasian land areas arises from a combination of: (1) the direct effects of declining snow-cover on surface spectral reflectance and NDVI, and (2) enhanced vegetation growth and green biomass stimulated by warmer air temperatures and potentially greater vegetation absorption of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) during the period of annual peak solar irradiance.