Map of potential groundwater-dependent vegetation in the Sierra Nevada Protected Area (Southern Spain) based on NDVI-derived ecohydrological attributes

This dataset is associated with the manuscript “Groundwater-Dependent Vegetation in Semi-Arid Mediterranean Mountains: The Hidden Role of Hard-Rock Aquifers” by Javier Cabello, Monserrat Escudero-Clares, Sergio Martos-Rosillo, J. Jesús Casas, Juanma Cintas, Thomas Zakaluk, María J. Salinas-Bonillo, which is currently under review. Full citation details and a link to the published article will be added as soon as the paper is accepted.

This dataset provides spatial information on potential groundwater-dependent vegetation (pGDV) in the Sierra Nevada Protected Area (southern Spain), encompassing the National and Natural Parks. The map was produced using three NDVI-based ecohydrological attributes calculated from Sentinel-2 Level 2A imagery (10×10 m resolution) for the period 2019–2023: 1) Dry-season NDVI (July–August average): identifies green areas during peak water stress (August); 2) Dry–wet NDVI difference: reflects vegetation resilience to seasonal drought, calculated as the NDVI difference between May and August (for areas below 2000 m a.s.l.) or June and August (above 2000 m a.s.l.); 3) Interannual NDVI coefficient of variation (CV) (July–August): represents interannual stability of vegetation productivity. These attributes capture key aspects of ecosystem functioning and vegetation water-use patterns. A soil mask was applied to exclude non-vegetated areas. We categorized each NDVI-based variable into quartiles. Based on the combination of these variables, we classified each pixel into one of 64 unique ecohydrological classes. Subsequently, we grouped them into three pGDV classes indicating likely groundwater dependence: high, moderate, and low. The dataset includes: a raster layer of the 64 ecohydrological classes, a raster layer of the 3 pGDV classes, and three separate raster layers for each ecohydrological attribute. All rasters are provided in GeoTIFF format. This dataset is intended to support identifying, monitoring, and conserving vegetation potentially reliant on groundwater in Mediterranean mountain ecosystems.