Abstract: Fractional vegetation coverage (FVC) of the Loess Plateau of Shaanxi from 2000 to 2009 was extracted from MODIS NDVI using the mixed pixel decomposition model for study of its overall trend and variation of FVC and its driving forces in regions, of which zoning was done in light of factors like type of vegetation coverage, terrain, climate and soil. Results show that on the whole, the FVC of the plateau displayed a rising trend during the period from 2000 to 2009, and increased about 10 percentage point . The area of the zone with FVC being 0-10%, ＞10%-20%, ＞20%-30%, ＞30%-40% and ＞40%-50% decreased on average by -1.05%, -8.63%, -7.04%, -7.20% and -3.49%, respectively, while the area of the zone with FVC being ＞50%-60%, ＞60%-70%, ＞70%-80%,＞80%-90% and ＞90%-100% increased on average by 6.92%, 10.53%, 4.05%, 0.87% and 7.06%. Terrain and and hydrothermal conditions are found macroscopically the major factors determining type of vegetation coverage and its density as well. Soil erosion affects the extent of vegetation damage. The implementation of the “Grain for Green” policy is the major contributor to the continuous growth of the FVC.

Key words: fractional vegetation coverage, Shaanxi, the Loess Plateau, characteristics-based zoning, MODIS