Scale dependence of forest fragmentation and its climate sensitivity in a semi-arid mountain: comparing Landsat, Sentinel and Google Earth data

•Forest fragmentation was estimated along a moisture gradient at sub-meter resolution.•10 or 30 m resolution data underestimated forest cover by 20% in Yinshan Mountains.•Forest fragmentation and its response to drought stress are scale-related.•Fragmented pattern is more sensitive than coverage of canopy to drought stress.