Analysis of surface radiation fluxes and environmental variables over Caatinga vegetation with different densities

Abstract

The Caatinga biome, characterized by its dynamic vegetation due to climate and land use changes, experiences varied environmental responses during the dry and rainy seasons. This research aims to dissect the complexity of surface radiation fluxes, vapor pressure, and air and soil temperatures across three distinct vegetation densities within the Caatinga: recovering, degraded, and preserved. Utilizing data from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer/Enhanced Vegetation Index products to analyze these densities offers a novel lens through which to view the biome's reaction to climatic shifts. Our findings unveiled specific patterns of solar and longwave radiation fluxes that correlate with key climatic variables like air temperature and surface albedo. This investigation not only addresses a critical gap in our knowledge of a globally significant but underexplored biome, but it also advances our comprehension of how vegetation density influences radiation fluxes in arid settings. Insights from this study are vital for forecasting and mitigating the ecological and climatic impacts of land cover transformations in semiarid regions worldwide. Significantly, the degraded site displayed nearly double the solar radiation reflection (138 Wm⁻²) compared to the recovering site (68 Wm⁻²), underscoring the role of vegetation density in modulating local climate conditions, despite atmospheric consistency across the study sites.