Using remote sensing data

we estimated sandland vegetation coverage (VC) during the growing season from 2000 to 2014 in the Otindag Sandland

and analyzed the spatial-temporal characteristics of VC. Impacts of climatic factors and land use/cover change on the sandland VC were primarily distinguished by statistical analysis. The results showed that the sandland VC was increased with fluctuations during the growing season in the Otindag Sandland from 2000 to 2014

the average annual VC was 0.423 in the study area with an average increase rate of 0.003 6/yr. For the spatial pattern

the VC in the northern

central and southern fringe regions of the study area showed an increasing trend

but no obvious trend was observed in the eastern and part of the western regions. As a whole

the annual VC variation was positively correlated with precipitation

the correlation coefficient was 0.86

indicating that precipitation was the dominant driving force of vegetation dynamics. The correlation coefficient between VC and temperature is -0.42. The composition of land use structure was evaluated using data derived from the Landsat images obtained in 2000

2006 and 2013 with the 3S technology. The study area was primarily comprised of grassland

which occupied 85.25% of the total study area. The results revealed that grassland and forest increased more than any other types of land (except for construction land)

with their area increasing from 29 637.30 km2 and 58.24 km2 to 30 619.36 km2 and 64.43 km2

respectively

while other types of land decreased to different degrees. Overall

these results indicated that some farmland was transformed to grassland and forest

and some unused land was transformed to grassland and water body. High-coverage grassland

forest and farmland increased in the area. The annual VC variation was correlated with land use/cover change

which was an important factor driving the VC increase in the Otindag Sandland during the study period.