Gu Yingxin author Wylie Bruce K. author Bliss Norman B. author 2013 FY 2012 This study assessed and described a relationship between satellite-derived growing season averaged Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and annual productivity for grasslands within the Greater Platte River Basin (GPRB) of the United States. We compared growing season averaged NDVI (GSN) with Soil Survey Geographic (SSURGO) database rangeland productivity and flux tower Gross Primary Productivity (GPP) for grassland areas. The GSN was calculated for each of nine years (2000-2008) using the 7-day composite 250-m eMODIS (expedited Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) NDVI data. Strong correlations exist between the nine-year mean GSN (MGSN) and SSURGO annual productivity for grasslands (R2 = 0.74 for approximately 8000 pixels randomly selected from eight homogeneous regions within the GPRB; R2 = 0.96 for the 14 cluster-averaged points). Results also reveal a strong correlation between GSN and flux tower growing season averaged GPP (R2 = 0.71). Finally, we developed an empirical equation to estimate grassland productivity based on the MGSN. Spatially explicit estimates of grassland productivity over the GPRB were generated, which improved the regional consistency of SSURGO grassland productivity data and can help scientists and land managers to better understand the actual biophysical and ecological characteristics of grassland systems in the GPRB. This final estimated grassland production map can also be used as an input for biogeochemical, ecological, and climate change models. area basin biophysical change climate climate change composite correlation data database Difference Vegetation Index ecological ecological characteristic eMODIS NDVI flux flux tower GPP grassland Greater Platte River basin growing season GSN imaging imaging spectroradiometer journal articles land land manager map mapping model Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer NDVI Normalized Difference Vegetation Index pixel Platte River production productivity rangeland regional resolution river river basin season soil soil survey spatially explicit spectroradiometer SSURGO grassland productivity tower United States USA vegetation vegetation index exported from refbase (http://eros.usgs.gov/refbase/show.php?record=24378), last updated on Fri, 23 Nov 2012 14:56:28 -0600 text http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2012.05.024 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2012.05.024 Gu_etal2013 EROS @ cdeering @ 1257 2013 continuing periodical academic journal 24 31 36 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2012.05.024