EARTH OBSERVATION FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

(ENEN 637)

TERM PAPER

ON

OBSERVING THE VEGETATION DISTRIBUTION

OF NORTHERN NIGERIA USING PATEGI AS CASE

STUDY

BY

CHIOMA CHIJIOKE (30105762)

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WITH

SPECIALIZATION IN ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT

4th DECEMBER 2019.

 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The paper primarily revolves round the use of the vegetation indices; normalized difference

vegetation index and normalized difference water index to observe the vegetation

distribution of Northern Nigeria using a small community close to the River Niger, Pategi

as case study.

The vegetation indices data used were obtained from both Landat-8 and Senitel-2 and they

were also employed in a drought assessment of the study area. The data obtained were

interpreted as showing a linear relationship between NDVI and NDWI. The NDVI and

NDWI data got from Senitel-2 and Landsat 8 were very similar.

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The free availability of data makes research easier and cheaper and for that, I am thankful

that I could obtain data for Landsat-8 freely from Google earth engine and Senitel-2 data

freely from Senitel-ESA website.

I am also thankful to Blair for his guidance during this project.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY...................................................................................................i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT……….……………………...…...……………………………ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS ....................................................................................................iii

LIST OF TABLES ..............................................................................................................iv

LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................iv

LIST OF ABBREVIATION................................................................................................iv

1.0 INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................................1

1.2 Objectives ................................................................................................................1

2.0 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE REVIEW ............................2

3.0 MATERIALS AND STUDY AREA..............................................................................3

3.1 DATABASE DESCRIPTION AND METHOD…………….............................3

4.0 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION.....................................................................................4

5.0 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION..............................................................8

5.1 Conclusion .........................................................................................................8

5.2 Recommendation ...............................................................................................8

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 LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 4.1 Pictures of Pategi........................................................................................4

Figure 4.2: NDVI, NDWI and RGB layers of Pategi, Nigeria from 2014-2018….....4

Figure 4.3: AVERAGE NDVI OF PATEGI, NIGERIA FROM 2014-2018...............5

FIGURE 4.4: AVERAGE NDWI OF PATEGI, NIGERIA FROM 2014-2018.............5

Figure 4.5: 30th September 2018 NDVI Image showing Pategi………..………...…6

Figure 4.6: 30thSeptember 2019 NDVI Image showing Pategi……………………..6

Figure 4.7: 30th September 2018 NDWI image showing Pategi………………….…7

Figure 4.8: 30th September 2019 NDWI image showing Pategi…………………....7

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

NDVI Normalized Difference Vegetation Index

NDWI Normalized Difference Water Index

SWIR Shortwave infrared

SNAP Sentinel Application Platform

MODIS Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer

NOAA-AVHRR Advanced Very High-Resolution Radiometer

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1.0 INTRODUCTION

Our environment has been significantly affected with the issues of climate change and

global warming (IPCC, 2007a). The effects of climate change on our environment are

noticeably; an increase in temperature and reduced rainfall in the tropics, leading to drought

(Adegboyega et.al, 2016).

Drought is a common harsh weather occurrence in some parts of Africa. The annual rainfall

in West Africa has experienced reduced rainfall since the end of the 1960’s (Dai et al.,

(2004); Adefolalu, 1986). The Northern part of Nigeria has experienced four severe

droughts within the last five decades (1960 and 2010) leading to widespread dislocation

and social and economic activities with general discomfort to the populace (Van

Apeldon,1981).

This paper is aimed at assessing the vegetation distribution in Pategi, Northern Nigeria,

using two vegetation indices, the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and

normalized difference water index (NDWI) with a view to carry out drought assessment

over the region.

1.2 Objectives

With the unprecedented changes in our world as a result of climate change and global

warming it is necessary to closely monitor the changes in vegetation and soil water content

in order to predict drought amongst other natural disasters that might affect food production

and find solutions before a disaster occurs.

The successful completion of this research work will monitor the NDVI and NDWI of the

choice community in Northern Nigeria. This work will define the vegetation trends which

in turn can be used to forecast drought because the North of Nigeria is highly prone to

drought as a result of the varying amounts of rainfall that it receives.

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2.0 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE REVIEW

NDVI, the most commonly used vegetation index used to delineate overall distribution of

vegetation is usually supplemented by NDWI (Yoshida, 2015).

NDVI is an indicator of photosynthetically active biomass. It is used to differentiate

vegetation from other types of land cover (artificial) and determine its overall state.
𝜌 −𝜌
NDVI is mathematically expressed as = 𝜌𝑁𝐼𝑅 +𝜌𝑟𝑒𝑑
𝑁𝐼𝑅 𝑟𝑒𝑑

Where,

𝜌𝑁𝐼𝑅 is reflectance in the near-infrared light,

𝜌𝑟𝑒𝑑 is reflectance in visible red light.

Todoroff et.al (2016) evaluated the contribution of remote sensing to crop monitoring in

tropical zones by obtaining temporal NDVI profiles from more than 120 plots in

Guadeloupe and Reunion Island using SPOT. They further stated that similar

measurements are now freely available via the European Sentinel-2 satellite. The use of

NDVI and NDWI in drought and vegetation monitoring is not a new concept. Gu et.al

(2007) carried out a drought assessment over the central Great Plains of the United States

using MODIS NDVI and NDWI. Higher NDVI values reflect greater vigor and

photosynthetic capacity (or greenness) of vegetation canopy, whereas lower NDVI values

for the same time period are reflective of vegetative stress resulting in chlorophyll

reductions and changes in the leaves’ internal structure due to wilting. NDWI, derived from

the NIR and shortwave infrared (SWIR) channels, responds to changes in both the water

content (absorption of SWIR radiation) and spongy mesophyll (reflectance of NIR

radiation) in vegetation canopies, respectively (Gao, 1996).

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3.0 Materials and Study area

Pategi is an agricultural rural settlement in Kwara State, located in North-East Nigeria with

latitude 9o44 N and 5o 45 E. The vegetation is of the Guinea savannah type with two distinct

seasons (rainy and dry). The Pategi Basin is a NW-SE trending embayment perpendicular

to the main axis of the Benue Trough and the Niger Delta Basin of Nigeria.

3.1 Database Description and Methodology

Google earth engine was used to obtain free annual Landsat 8 images of Pategi from 2014-

2018. The NDVI and NDWI data were got by running the script available in the appendix.

Senitel-2 data for the 30th day of September (rainy season) in Pategi, Nigeria was obtained

for 2018 and 2019 from Sentinel-ESA website. The data obtained were cloud-masked as a

result of cloud contamination and run on Senitel application platform (SNAP).

NDVI was calculated on SNAP using the acquired Sentinel-2 data by taking the reflectance

value in two bands: the visible red band and near-infrared band into consideration. There

were 12 bands in the acquired image. B2 (490 nm) depicted blue, B3 (560 nm) depicted

green, B4 (665 nm) depicted red and B8 (842 nm) depicted near-infrared.

NDWI, a remote sensing-based indicator sensitive to the change in the water content of

leaves (Gao, 1996) was then calculated using SNAP.

𝑁𝐼𝑅−𝑆𝑊𝐼𝑅
NDWI is mathematically expressed as =
𝑁𝐼𝑅 +𝑆𝑊𝐼𝑅

Where,

SWIR is shortwave infrared

B8A (865nm) was used as NIR and B11 (1610nm) was used as SWIR.

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4.0 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The figure below is a diagrammatic illustration of the vegetation in the choice study

area; Pategi, Nigeria. The image shows a swamp with lots of green vegetation.

Figure 4.1: Pictures of Pategi (https://www.flickr.com/photos/139791896@N06/24051927148)

The figure below depicts the NDVI, NDWI and RGB layers of Pategi, Nigeria obtained

between January- December of 2014-2018 using Landsat 8 data from Google Earth

Engine.

Figure 4.2: NDVI, NDWI and RGB layers of Pategi, Nigeria from 2014-2018

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The NDVI data obtained for January-December of 2014-2018 are shown in the graph

below.

FIGURE 4.3: AVERAGE NDVI OF PATEGI, NIGERIA FROM 2014-2018

From the graph of NDVI that was obtained, NDVI was at its peak on the 21st day of the

month of July 2014 a time when the rains were at their peak while the lowest NDVI data

was acquired on 20th of September 2018. A value of 0.0834 was got as R2 of the plot.

The graph below is a pictorial representation of the average NDWI’s in Pategi, Nigeria

obtained between January- December of 2014-2018 using Landsat 8 data.

FIGURE 4.4: AVERAGE NDWI OF PATEGI, NIGERIA FROM 2014-2018

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The NDWI data fluctuated throughout the two seasons in Nigeria that is the Rainy season

(March – October) and Dry Season (November – February). From the data obtained, NDWI

was at its peak on the 21st day of the month of June 2014 a time when the rains were at their

peak while the lowest NDWI data was acquired on 20th of September 2018. The data

obtained shows that seasonal variations affect NDWI and NDVI and that the amount of

rainfall in an area strongly correlates with NDWI and NDVI. The highest and lowest NDWI

data values were acquired during the rainy and dry seasons respectively in Nigeria. An R 2

value of 0.0967 was got from the plot. Also there exist a strong correlation between NDVI

and NDWI. It was observed that the R2 of NDVI was far lower than that of NDWI.

Cirrus and opaque clouds of 10m were removed from the Multi-spectral satellite image

obtained using Senitel-2 by cloud masking to prevent cloud pixel contamination. The

results of the NDVI calculation range from -1 to 1. The negative values (depicted with

black) correspond to areas with water surfaces, manmade structures, rocks, clouds. Bare

soil (depicted with red) usually falls within 0.1- 0.2 range. Sparse vegetation (depicted with

yellow) have values between 0.2-0.4 and healthy dense canopy (depicted with green) have

values above 0.5.

Figure 4.5: 30th September 2018 NDVI Image showing Pategi Figure 4.6: 30 thSeptember 2019 NDVI Image showing Pategi

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For the 30th of September 2018, the minimum NDVI was -0.567 while the maximum NDVI

was 0.839 and for 2019, the minimum NDVI was -0.465 while the maximum NDVI was

0.795. The images obtained show a higher vegetative cover for the year 2018 than 2019.

There’s also an increase in the bare soil regions in the year 2019. A continuation of this

trend in subsequent years could result in deforestation along side other harmful effects on

agriculture leading to famine.

The figures below are a pictorial representation off the Normalized difference water Index

for Pategi on the 30th of September 2018 and 2019 respectively. The NDWI product varies

between -1 to +1, depending on the leaf water content and the vegetation type and cover.

High values of NDWI (in blue) correspond to high vegetation water content and high

vegetation fraction cover. Low NDWI values (in red) correspond to low vegetation water

content and low vegetation fraction cover and white corresponds to water (River Niger). In

periods of water stress, NDWI will decrease.

Figure 4.7: 30th September 2018 NDWI image showing Pategi Figure 4.8: 30th September 2019 NDWI image showing Pategi

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For the year 2018, the minimum NDWI was -0.586 while the maximum NDWI was 0.886

and for 2019, the minimum NDVI was -0.995 while the maximum NDVI was 0.928. The

images obtained show a higher water content for the year 2019 than for 2018. The results

obtained show no signs of drought in the choice area.

Overall, there have been no significant differences in the study area within the observed

years. The Senitenel-2 data obtained are closely related to the studies by Chima et.al 2011

which showed a large portion of Northern Nigerian landmass having NDVI values of 0.64

and above. The data obtained from Senitel-2 and Landsat-8 varied a little. This difference

can be said to be in the differences in their temporal revisit.

5.0 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

5.1 Conclusion

This project observes the vegetation distribution of Northern Nigeria using Pategi as case

study by employing two known vegetation indices the NDVI and the NDWI. The results

obtained have shown a strong linear relationship between NDVI and NDWI.

The aim of the paper was achieved because the vegetation trends were not only observed,

but also used for drought monitoring. From the data obtained, there is high vegetation

distribution in Pategi, with no signs of emerging drought in the nearest future.

5.2 Recommendation

I strongly recommend that it is worthwhile to obtain satellite data from a different satellite

like MODIS or NOAA-AVHRR to compare the results of NDVI and NDWI.

Also, further work has to been done to ensure the complete removal of cloud in order to

obtain better results.

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 REFERENCES

1. Adefolalu, D.O. (1986). Further aspects of Sahelian droughts as evident from rainfall
regime in Nigeria. Arch. Met. Geoph. Biolol., Ser. B., 36: 277-295.
2. Adegboyega, S.A, Olajuyigbe,A.E, Balogun,I, Olatoye,O.(2016). Monitoring drought and
effects on vegetation in Sokoto state Nigeria using statistical and geospatial
techniques. Ethiopian Journal of Environmental Studies and Management 9 (1):
56 -69, 2016.
3. Dai, A., Lamb, P.J., Trenberth, K.E., Hulme, P.,Jones, D. and Xie, P. (2004). The Recent
Sahel Drought is Real. Int. J. Climatol. 24: 1323-1331.
4. G. N. Chima, M. A. Ijioma, M. O. Nwagbara and V. O. Nwaugo. (2011) Sensitivity of
vegetation to decadal variations in temperature and rainfall over Northern
NigeriaJournal of Soil Science and Environmental Management Vol. 2(8), pp.
228-236,
5. Gao, B.-C. 1996. NDWI - A normalized difference water index for remote sensing of
vegetation liquid water from space. Remote Sensing of Environment 58: 257-266.
6. https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/remote_sensing/2011/11/03/ndvi/
7. https://www.britannica.com/place/Niger-state-Nigeria
8. https://www.flickr.com/photos/139791896@N06/24051927148
9. https://www.sentinel-hub.com/eoproducts/ndvi-normalized-difference-vegetation-index
10. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wik07UyjnDs
11. Pierre Todoroff, Jaco Kemp, in Land Surface Remote Sensing in Agriculture and Forest, 2016
12. Van Apeldon, G.J. (1981). Perspective on drought and famine in Nigeria. George Allen and Unwin
London. Pp 184.
13. Yoshida, Hiroyuki (2015), Observation of Riparian Vegetation in Western Namibia by Using
NDVI and NDWI derived from SPOT-Vegetation.

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 APPENDIX

//CloudFree NDVI overtime

var rgb_vis = {min: 0, max: 65535, bands: ['B4', 'B3', 'B2']};

function addNDVI(image) {

var ndvi = image.normalizedDifference(['B5', 'B4']);

return image.addBands(ndvi);

function addNDWI(image2) {

var ndwi = image2.normalizedDifference(['B5', 'B3']);

return image2.addBands(ndwi);

var filtered = L8.filterDate('2014-01-01', '2018-10-30')

.filterBounds(ROI);

var with_ndvi = filtered.map(addNDVI);

var with_ndwi = filtered.map(addNDWI);

Map.addLayer(filtered.median(), rgb_vis, 'RGB');

Map.addLayer(with_ndvi.median(), {bands: 'nd', min: 0, max: 1}, 'NDVI');

Map.addLayer(with_ndwi.median(), {bands: 'nd', min: 0, max: 1}, 'NDWI');

print(ui.Chart.image.series(with_ndvi.select('nd'), ROI));

print(ui.Chart.image.series(with_ndwi.select('nd'), ROI));

(Adapted from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wik07UyjnDs)

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