Evaluation and normalization of topographic effects on vegetation indices

The normalization of topographic effects on vegetation indices (VIs) is a prerequisite for their proper use in mountainous areas. We assessed the topographic effects on the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), the enhanced vegetation index (EVI), the soil adjusted vegetation index (SAVI),...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Chen, Rui, Yin, Gaofei|||0000-0002-9828-7139, Liu, Guoxiang|||0000-0002-2799-1145, Li, Jing|||0000-0002-9283-3821, Verger, Aleixandre|||0000-0001-9374-1745
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2020
País:España
Institución:Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ddd.uab.cat:257312
Acceso en línea:https://ddd.uab.cat/record/257312
https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.3390/rs12142290
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Topographic effects
Topographic normalization
Vegetation indices
Sentinel-2
Descripción
Sumario:The normalization of topographic effects on vegetation indices (VIs) is a prerequisite for their proper use in mountainous areas. We assessed the topographic effects on the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), the enhanced vegetation index (EVI), the soil adjusted vegetation index (SAVI), and the near-infrared reflectance of terrestrial vegetation (NIRv) calculated from Sentinel-2. The evaluation was based on two criteria: the correlation with local illumination condition and the dependence on aspect. Results show that topographic effects can be neglected for the NDVI, while they heavily influence the SAVI, EVI, and NIRv: the local illumination condition explains 19.85%, 25.37%, and 26.69% of the variation of the SAVI, EVI, and NIRv, respectively, and the coefficients of variation across different aspects are, respectively, 8.13%, 10.46%, and 14.07%. We demonstrated the applicability of existing correction methods, including statistical-empirical (SE), sun-canopy-sensor with C-correction (SCS + C), and path length correction (PLC), dedicatedly designed for reflectance, to normalize topographic effects on VIs. Our study will benefit vegetation monitoring with VIs over mountainous areas.