NDVI (normalized difference vegetation index) can reflect the changes of vegetation growth.It has been widely used to monitor multiscale vegetation growth conditions.Based on MODIS remote sensing data,the time series of NDVI from 2001 to 2015 in Zoige area were reconstructed by filtering software TIMESAT,and three key vegetation growth properties were extracted:The start of vegetation growth period,the length of vegetation growth period and the maximum NDVI value.The key climatic factors affecting the vegetation growth period were analyzed.The results showed that:1) The average start time of vegetation growth period increased,and the average length of vegetation growth period prolonged,while and the maximum NDVI values had no significant changes from 2001 to 2015.2) The average vegetation growth properties had no obvious regular pattern of change in spatial distribution.As the elevation increased,the start of vegetation growth period postponed,the length of vegetation growth period shortened visibly,and the maximum of NDVI did not change obviously.3) Temperature is the main factor that impacted vegetation growth period in Zoige area.Increasing accumulated temperature in April and May could advance the start time of vegetation growth period.The average length of vegetation growth period would be longer with the higher accumulated temperature in September and October.The increase of accumulated temperature from the start time of growth period to the time of the maximum NDVI also increased the maximum value of NDVI.4) The correlation between NDVI and SPI was not significant.Therefore,the vegetation in Zoige area had low dependence on precipitation.The findings showed the changes of vegetation growth period in Zoige area and their response to climate over the past 15 years.The methods used in this paper can provided a useful tool for remote sensing monitoring of vegetation characteristics at large scales.