remote sensing Article Extreme Climate Event and Its Impact on Landscape Resilience in Gobi Region of Mongolia Oyudari Vova 1,* , Martin Kappas 1 , Tsolmon Renchin 2 and Steven R. Fassnacht 1,3,4,5 1 Cartography, GIS and Remote Sensing Department, Institute of Geography, University of Göttingen, 37007 Göttingen, Germany;
[email protected] (M.K.);
[email protected] (S.R.F.) 2 Department of Physics, National University of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar 14200, Mongolia;
[email protected] 3 Department of Ecosystem Science and Sustainability—Watershed Science, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1476, USA 4 Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere, CSU, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1375, USA 5 Natural Resources Ecology Lab, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1499, USA * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: +49-176-25398594 Received: 9 July 2020; Accepted: 2 September 2020; Published: 5 September 2020 Abstract: The dzud, a specific type of climate disaster in Mongolia, is responsible for serious environmental and economic damage. It is characterized by heavy snowfall and severe winter conditions, causing mass livestock deaths that occur through the following spring. These events substantially limit socioeconomic development in Mongolia. In this research, we conducted an analysis of several dzud events (2000, 2001, 2002, and 2010) to understand the spatial and temporal variability of vegetation conditions in the Gobi region of Mongolia. The present paper also establishes how these extreme climatic events affect vegetation cover and local grazing conditions using the seasonal aridity index (aAIZ), time-series Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), and livestock data.