Wildebeest Migration Research Project

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myost
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Wildebeest Migration Research Project

by myost » Wed Oct 12, 2022 4:50 pm America/New_York

I am researching the wildebeest migration and comparing it with rainfall data. I was advised to use this website to obtain satellite data to look at the wildebeest migration. MODIS was suggested for me to maybe use and something with NDVI... I don't really know where to start, what to look for, or how to interpret data that I am seeing. please help a fellow aspiring scientist

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LP DAAC - dgolon
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Re: Wildebeest Migration Research Project

by LP DAAC - dgolon » Wed Oct 12, 2022 5:42 pm America/New_York

Hello @myost Thanks for writing in. As a starting point, you can find several examples of how NDVI data, and other satellite data, have been used to study animal migration on the LP DAAC website.

Here are a couple of useful links:
The LP DAAC Publications Table: https://lpdaac.usgs.gov/resources/publications/ If you go there and type in "migration" you will see several articles about the migration of different species using data distributed by the LP DAAC.

The Terra and Aqua MODIS data products that start with "MOD13" or "MYD13" will provide you information on NDVI. These data are used to study migration. I would also recommend looking at Suomi NPP VIIRS NDVI data (these data will start with VNP13). You can find a list of these land data products on the LP DAAC's data catalog here: https://lpdaac.usgs.gov/product_search/?collections=Aqua+MODIS&collections=Combined+MODIS&collections=Suomi+NPP+VIIRS&collections=Terra+MODIS&keyword=Vegetation+Indices+%28VI%29&status=Operational&view=cards&sort=title&page=1 Each of their DOI landing pages will have more information about that specific data product. You can find the DOI landing pages by clicking on the various product links in the data catalog.

Here is a Data in Action article (https://lpdaac.usgs.gov/resources/data-action/modis-vegetation-indices-zoological-approach/) I wrote a few years ago covering a paper (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320716303664?via%3Dihub) that used NDVI data to study elephant mortality and drought. While it is not about migration, the DIA article and the science publication it covered might help you understand more using NDVI data as a proxy measurement for food sources -- something that does tie into migration.

In addition, back in 2015 the LP DAAC staff wrote a Data in Action article (https://lpdaac.usgs.gov/resources/data-action/sensing-our-planet-nasa-earth-science-research-features-2014/) covering several projects from the previous "Sensing Our Planet" NASA publication. One of those projects studied zebra migration using NDVI data. Here is a link to that article: https://www.earthdata.nasa.gov/learn/sensing-our-planet/zebras-without-borders

You might also be interested in using Landsat data in your research. I found several articles through Google Scholar that might interest you: https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0,6&q=landsat+wildebeest+migration


I think that is a good place to at least start. I will leave it open to the science community if any others studying migration or NDVI would like to comment with any advice.

Thanks,
Danielle
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myost
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Re: Wildebeest Migration Research Project

by myost » Wed Oct 12, 2022 6:10 pm America/New_York

THANK YOU
Last edited by myost on Wed Oct 12, 2022 6:13 pm America/New_York, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Wildebeest Migration Research Project

by GES DISC - jimacker » Wed Oct 12, 2022 6:28 pm America/New_York

Hello. Our Giovanni data analysis and visualization system provides several data variables that may be of interest to your potential research on wildebeest migration, including precipitation, temperature, NDVI, and many other variables. The URL is https://giovanni.gsfc.nasa.gov. Giovanni provides a simple way to subset data by region and time period, and averaging data over months and seasons is also easy to do. Please reply if you would like more assistance.

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