ABSTRACT
This paper is an endeavor to study the variations in vegetation line and timberline altitude using Normalized Difference Vegetation Index in Pinder Watershed, Uttarakhand (India). Landsat satellite imageries of three different time periods, i.e., Landsat TM of 1990, Landsat TM of 1999 and Landsat TM 2011 were used to quantify vegetation line and timberline altitude. To determine the height of the vegetation and timberline, Cartosat-1 (2008) panchromatic stereoscopic satellite data were used. The results reveal that the average height of vegetation line in the alpine zone in Pinder watershed was 3,280 m in 1990, 3,307 m in 1999, and 3,331 m in 2011 while the average height of timberline in the alpine zone in Pinder watershed was 2,795 m in 1990, 2,816 m in 1999 and 2,835 m in 2011. These data suggest that due to global warming, the vegetation line in the alpine zone has been shifted about 51 m toward higher elevation at an average rate of 2.42 m/year during the last 21 years in between 1990 and 2011, while the timberline has been shifted about 40 m toward higher elevation at an average rate of 1.90 m/year during the last 21 years in between 1990 and 2011.
