A modified soil adjusted vegetation index

There is currently a great deal of interest in the quantitative characterization of temporal and spatial vegetation patterns with remotely sensed data for the study of earth system science and global change. Spectral models and indices are being developed to improve vegetation sensitivity by accounting for atmosphere and soil effects. The soil-adjusted vegetation index (SAVI) was developed to minimize soil influences on canopy spectra by incorporating a soil adjustment factor L into the denominator of the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) equation. For optimal adjustment of the soil effect, however, the L factor should vary inversely with the amount of vegetation present. A modified SAVI (MSAVI) that replaces the constant L in the SAVI equation with a variable L function is presented in this article. The L function may be derived by induction or by using the product of the NDVI and weighted difference vegetation index (WDVI). Results based on ground and aircraft-measured cotton canopies are presented. The MSAVI is shown to increase the dynamic range of the vegetation signal while further minimizing the soil background influences, resulting in greater vegetation sensitivity as defined by a “vegetation signal” to “soil noise” ratio.