Investigating the statistical relationship between climatic and hydrological variables with Vegetation Dynamics in a dry climate (Case study: Sistan plain in eastern Iran)

Climatic variables are considered as one of the most important factors affecting the spatial-temporal dynamic of vegetation. Nowadays, satellite images are widely used for monitoring the effect of climatic variables fluctuations on vegetation changes. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between two climatic variables of precipitation and temperature with vegetation dynamic in one of the world’s dry plains i.e. Sistan plain in eastern Iran by using satellite data. In the present study, the data generated in NDVI related to MODIS sensor of Terra satellite for 3 months of April, May, and June over 2000 to 2014, data of temperature and monthly precipitation (October- September) in Zabol meteorological station were used for the same time period of 2000-2014. Pearson product moment correlation was used to study the relationship between climatic variables with NDVI. The results showed no correlation between MODIS NDVI of April, May, and June with the average temperature of previous months in terms of monthly scale. In case of precipitation, it was observed that the precipitation of May with MODIS NDVI of May 0.603 and June 0.542 had a normal positive correlation. But due to the very low amount of precipitation and high evaporation in this month, this correlation cannot be trusted a lot. Thus, by recognizing no correlation between climatic variables and vegetation dynamic in Sistan plain, the correlation between the average annual discharges of Hirmand River was considered as the only river in this plain with MODIS NDVI of April, May, and June. The results of correlation showed a strong positive correlation of 0.75 between the average annual discharges of Hirmand river and MODIS NDVI of April. Thus, it is obvious that the critical vein of Sistan plain is Hirmand river and the life in this land and its vegetation dynamic depends not only on temperature fluctuations and precipitation but also on the water of this life-giving river.