Abstract

                                Temporal and spatial variations in vegetation distribution and growth require continuous evaluation of land use and land cover change detection. With an objective to assess and utilize spatially derived vegetation indices viz., NDVI and NDWI over the land use and land cover, the seasonal vegetation dynamics were analyzed for the state of Tamil Nadu during the 2017 Kharif and Rabi season. The NDVI and NDWI showed a good range of temporal variations in vegetation biomass condition and crop water conditions, however, NDVI valuesappear to have increasing variations when compared to NDWI values. The study highlighted that, based on the mean, maximum and minimum values of NDVI, the highest variation were noticed over the swamp forest irrespective of the season. However, the percentage of variation was noticed to be higher during Rabi season (94.28) when compared tothe Kharif season (37.64) within the swamp forest. While based on NDWI statistical values, the coefficient of variation was noticed to highest in plantation land (66.32) during Kharif season and 43.02 per cent in cropland during Rabi season. Based on the study, within the forest ecosystem, the variation in vegetation greenness and crop water stress response were found to be least during both the season.

Key words : NDVI, NDWI, Vegetation, Land Use and Land Cover, MODIS.