Abstract: Vegetation coverage is a quantitative index to reflect the surface condition of plant communities, and it can indicate the regional environmental change, which has important significance for the regional hydrological, ecological conditions and the regional response of the global change. In this study,  based on the MODIS-NDVI data during the period from 2001 to 2015, the mean values of vegetation coverage were Firstly calculated every three years, and the differences of distribution during each period were investigated; Secondly, the variation rate of vegetation coverage was computed at the national scale during the study period, and six variation types were defined and the distribution of different types was analyzed in order to understand the variation characteristics; Finally, the drivers of the vegetation coverage change in different areas were analyzed by computing the correlation between vegetation coverage and typical climatic factors, such as annual mean temperature, annual precipitation and annual average sunshine percentage. The results were summarized as follows: (1) The spatial distribution of vegetation coverage in China is gradually reduced from the southeast coast to the northwest inland. From 2001 to 2015, there were regional variations of the vegetation coverage which caused little difference in terms of the overall distribution trend. (2) Over the past 15 years, the vegetation coverage in China had shown an increasing trend, in particular, in the Huaihe River Basin, the North China Plain area and the Loess Plateau region it was increased significantly. While the vegetation coverage of Qinghai Tibet Plateau and Inner Mongolia plateau had little change. (3) According to the time series analysis of the vegetation coverage, the variation type can be divided into six categories, such as continuous growth, reduced-after-initially-increase, and so on. The vegetation coverage in most plain areas showed a continuous growth, while most of the forest-covered area, especially in the southwest, the vegetation coverage showed the variation characteristics of volatility during the study period. (4) By calculating the correlation coefficient between vegetation coverage and the selected climatic factors, it can be found that the vegetation coverage and precipitation were significantly and positively correlated in the Northern China Plain, Inner Mongolia, and most of the northwest area, which indicated that precipitation is the main climatic factor that affects vegetation coverage in those areas. Climate factors such as temperature, sunshine have a significant positive correlation with vegetation coverage in humid climate region, while there is a significant negative correlation in arid climate region.

Key words: vegetation coverage, spatial-temporal variations, rate of change, driving force