An automatic procedure to identify key vegetation phenology events using the JRC-FAPAR products

The phenology of vegetation, which describes the seasonal evolution of plants, can be effectively monitored from space. This approach offers important advantages compared to field observations, as quantitative information can be derived for any location worldwide over a number of years, thereby offering a consistent overview of the fate of the observed biomes and their relations with the climate and the environment. This manuscript describes a method to define the start, end, and length of 'growing seasons' based on the statistical analysis of time series of the biogeophysical quantity known as the Fraction of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation derived from an analysis of SeaWiFS data. Results are discussed for various biomes.