Large-scale detection of vegetation dynamics using MODIS images and BFAST: A case study in Quebec, Canada

BFAST (Breaks For Additive Seasonal and Trend) method and MODIS NDVI data were used to detect vegetation dynamics in Quebec during the period of 2000-2012. The Permanent Sample Plots (PSP) data were used to assess the detection method. The results demonstrated that 25.68% of the study area experienced NDVI trend changes during the research period. The detected timing of the biggest changes showed obviously that the areas with the biggest change in 2009 and 2002 were the top two with area percentages of 29.12% and 17.41%, respectively. The results suggested that abrupt vegetation greening occurred especially in 2009 with 58.33% of the overall abrupt greening. The abrupt vegetation browning occurred especially in 2002 with 28.22% of the overall abrupt browning. “Total cut” and “total burning” could be monitored easily using BFAST approach while “insect outbreak” and “plantation” could not be detected satisfyingly.