Cluster and Redundancy Analyses of Taiwan Upstream Watersheds Based on Monthly 30 Years AVHRR NDVI3g Data

The study uses 30 years of the third generation Advanced Very-High-Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) NDVI3g monthly data from 1982 to 2012 identify natural clusters and important driving factors upstream watersheds in Taiwan through hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) redundancy (RDA), respectively. Subsequently, as a result HCA, six were identified based on NDVI data, delineating unique characteristics watersheds. Additionally, RDA results, environmental factors, including precipitation, temperature, slope, aspect, can explain approximately 52% variance over entire time series. Among nine significantly for explaining variance: average flat northeast-facing rainfall, east-facing southeast-facing west-facing northwest-facing which reflect an intimate connection between climatic orthographic with vegetation. Furthermore, rainfall temperature represent different variations all scenarios seasons. With consideration significant corresponding climate change adaptation strategies are proposed each under scenarios. Thus, results provide insight assess clustering Taiwan, benefitting future sustainable watershed management.