LONG-TERM MODIS BASED NDVI AND LST TRENDS OF NILGIRI BIOSPHERE

Land surface temperature is influenced by various factors like precipitation and albedo, which differs from normal atmospheric temperature. At spatial level, land surface temperature plays an important role in depicting the temperature of the area. Although several regional climate models were developed by researchers to overcome uncertainties in understanding the impact of climate change at micro-level changes using satellite data as input, appears to serve as one of the best tools. Keeping this concept in mind, MODIS-LST is used to assess the possible impact of climatic and atmospheric variables on high altitude regions of Nilgiris in the present study. Comparatively, the land surface temperature of Thai shola and Longwood shola was higher than other shola regions. A comparison with night time MODIS land surface temperature with minimum temperature showed that night temperature provides a good estimate over day because of thermal reflectance of NIR band and others like solar radiation and cloud cover. The outcome of the study is likely to assist in drawing plans for biodiversity conservation besides, planning and developing strategies to conserve save shola forest against climate change impact.