A review of vegetation indices

Abstract In the field of remote sensing applications, scientists have developed vegetation indices (VI) for qualitatively and quantitatively evaluating vegetative covers using spectral measurements. The spectral response of vegetated areas presents a complex mixture of vegetation, soil brightness, environmental effects, shadow, soil color and moisture. Moreover, the VI is affected by spatial‐temporal variations of the atmosphere. Over forty vegetation indices have been developed during the last two decades in order to enhance vegetation response and minimize the effects of the factors described above. This paper summarizes, refers and discusses most of the vegetation indices found in the literature. It presents different existing classifications of indices and proposes to group them in a new classification.