Vegetation Indices#

What is a Vegetation Index?#

Vegetation Indices, or VIs, are variables combining surface reflactance observations at different spectral wavelengths into a single number highlighting information related to different aspects of vegetation. Hundreds of VIs have been developed and published in the scientific literature, but here at SpaceSense, we have integrated some of the most common ones avaiable for Sentinel-2.

Sentinel-2 Spectral Mapping#

Band	Resolution	Central Wavelength	Description
B02	10 m	490 nm	Blue
B03	10 m	560 nm	Green
B04	10 m	665 nm	Red
B05	20 m	705 nm	RedEdge
B08	10 m	842 nm	Near Infrared (NIR)
B11	20 m	1610 nm	Short Wave Infrared (SWIR)

Vegetation Indices provided by SpaceSense#

NDVI: Normalized Difference Vegetation Index

Source

\(NDVI = \frac{NIR - Red}{NIR + Red}\)

LAI: Leaf Area Index

Source

Please note, this calculation of LAI was targeting potato crops, and while performs well on other crops, is an emperical equation that may not be relevant for all vegetation types.

\(a = 0.460\)

\(wdvi = NIR - a * Red\)

\(LAI = 10.22 * wdvi + 0.4768\)

NDRE: Normalized Difference Red Edge Index

Source

\(NDRE = \frac{NIR - RedEdge}{NIR + RedEdge}\)

CHI: Chlorophyll Index

Source

\(CHI = (\frac{NIR}{RedEdge}) - 1\)

NDWI: Normalized Difference Water Index

Source

\(NDWI = \frac{SWIR - NIR}{SWIR + NIR}\)