Spectral Indices

Desmond Lartey

Index
Name
Description Formula
NDVI Measures vegetation greenness (NIR - Red) / (NIR + Red)

Similar to NDVI but reduces soil influence 2.5 * ((NIR - Red) / (NIR + 6 * Red - 7.5 *
EVI
and atmospheric effects Blue + 1))

SAVI NDVI adjusted for areas with bare soil ((NIR - Red) / (NIR + Red + L)) * (1 + L)

GNDVI Chlorophyll concentration using green band (NIR - Green) / (NIR + Green)

NDVI variant that reduces atmospheric (NIR - (2 * Red - Blue)) / (NIR + (2 * Red -
ARVI
effects Blue))

NDWI Indicates water bodies (NIR - SWIR) / (NIR + SWIR)

Soil-adjusted NDVI for dense vegetation (2 * NIR + 1 - sqrt((2 * NIR + 1)^2 - 8 * (NIR
MSAVI
areas - Red))) / 2
vegetation "redness" as an indicator of
NRVI (Red - Blue) / (Red + Blue)
stress
4 * (Green - SWIR1) - (0.25 * NIR + 2.75 *
AWEI water extraction in complex backgrounds
SWIR2)
Enhanced water detection with less
MNDWI (Green - SWIR) / (Green + SWIR)
vegetation influence
Water detection using visible and NIR
WRI (Green + Red) / (NIR + SWIR)
bands
Differentiates bare soil and sparse
NDSI (SWIR - NIR) / (SWIR + NIR)
vegetation areas

SBI Measures soil brightness sqrt((Red^2 + SWIR^2) / 2)

BSI Highlights bare soil areas. (Red + SWIR) / (NIR + Blue)

NBR Assess burn severity and wildfire impact. (NIR - SWIR) / (NIR + SWIR)

Indicates recently burned areas using a

BAI 1 / ((0.1 - Red)^2 + (0.06 - NIR)^2)
normalized approach

NDSI Detects snow and ice cover (Green - SWIR) / (Green + SWIR)

SI Another snow detection index (Blue - SWIR) / (Blue + SWIR)

NDBI Highlights urban and built-up areas (SWIR - NIR) / (SWIR + NIR)

UI Detects urban and developed areas (SWIR - Green) / (SWIR + Green)

Urban detection using a combination of (NDBI - (NDVI + MNDWI)) / (NDBI + (NDVI

IBI
indices + MNDWI))
 Spectral Indices
Desmond Lartey

Index
Name
Description Formula
NDISI Detects infrared and soil conditions. (NIR - SWIR2) / (NIR + SWIR2)

PSRI Used to assess plant senescence or aging (Red - Blue) / NIR

CVI Estimates vegetation chlorophyll content (NIR * Red) / (Green^2)

Visible green index resistant to atmospheric

VARI (NIR - Green) / (NIR + Green)
effects
NDVI variant that reduces atmospheric
ARVI (Green - Red) / (Green + Red - Blue)
effects

NDWI RENDVI (Red Edge - Red) / (Red Edge + Red)

Chlorophyll absorption ratio indicating plant ((Red Edge - Red) - 0.2 * (Red - Blue)) *
MCARI
stress (Red Edge / Red)
Soil-adjusted vegetation index for arid (a * (NIR - a * Red - b)) / (Red + a * NIR - ab
TSAVI
regions + X * (1 + a^2))
Canopy chlorophyll index indicating
CCI (NIR / Green) - 1
greenness

CIgreen Indicates leaf chlorophyll NIR / Green - 1

CIRE Chlorophyll index using red-edge bands NIR / Red Edge - 1

Detects moisture stress and drought (SWIR1 - (NIR + SWIR2)) / (SWIR1 + (NIR
NMDI
conditions + SWIR2))

LSWI Measures water content in vegetation (NIR - SWIR) / (NIR + SWIR)

VDI Vegetation drought indicator ((Red + SWIR) - NIR) / ((Red + SWIR) + NIR)

NDGI Assesses greenness and canopy structure (NIR - SWIR) / (NIR + SWIR)

Ratio vegetation index to detect high-

RVI NIR / Red
vegetation cover
Adjusted soil index variant for high biomass
OSAVI (NIR - Red) / (NIR + Red + 0.16)
areas

TNDVI Transformed NDVI for high greenness areas sqrt((NIR - Red) / (NIR + Red) + 0.5)

SI Soil salinity measure for arid areas sqrt((Red^2 + SWIR^2) / 2)

Highlights bare soil brightness for degraded

BRI sqrt(Red^2 + Green^2 + Blue^2)
areas

SLAVI Detects leaf area and vegetation stress NIR / (Red + SWIR)