The relationship between plant stable carbon isotope composition, precipitation and satellite data, Tibet Plateau, China

摘要

Stable carbon isotope composition (δ ~(13)C) of C3 plant leaves from the Tibet Plateau was analyzed to detect the relationship between stable carbon isotope composition (δ ~(13)C) and precipitation. In northern Tibet, δ ~(13)C increases by 0.46 per thousand with an increase of 100 mm in precipitation, while in the southern plateau δ ~(13)C decreases by 1.82 per thousand with an increase of 100 mm in precipitation. Because field sampling is limited by funds and traffic conditions, while remote sensing has no limitations, satellite data was introduced as a new data source to study the relationship between δ ~(13)C and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). NDVI has the same trend with δ ~(13)C, as does precipitation. So NDVI can be used to indicate δ ~(13)C approximately.