Designing Optimal Spectral Indices for Remote Sensing Applications

This paper describes a rational approach to the design of an optimal index to estimate vegetation properties on the basis of the red and near-infrared reflectances of the AVHRR instruments, taking into account the perturbing effects of soil brightness changes, atmospheric absorption and scattering. The rationale behind the Global Environment Monitoring Index (GEMI) is explained, and this index is proposed as an alternative to the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) for global applications. The techniques described here are generally applicable to any multispectral sensor and application.

PINTY Bernard; 

1996-04-02

JRC12874

https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC12874,