Figure 4

Boxplot demonstrating mean NDVI and its variance throughout summer. MODIS satellites retrieve imagery from the study site every 16 days, twice each month. The 6 boxplots present the average and variance of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) values for each photoperiod. These averages and variances are calculated from NDVI values reported at all clusters identified. The first reporting period of July (July1) has the highest mean and the lowest variance making it the best choice for a parameter demonstrating relative productivity of each cluster. The higher variance early and late in the season is likely due to timing variation of snow melt, growth, and die-off along elevation and cover gradients all of which influence NDVI values.