Evaluation and normalization of topographic effects on vegetation indices
Chen, Rui (Southwest Jiaotong University)
Yin, Gaofei (Centre de Recerca Ecològica i d'Aplicacions Forestals)
Liu, Guoxiang (Southwest Jiaotong University)
Li, Jing (Chinese Academy of Sciences. Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth)
Verger, Aleixandre (Centre de Recerca Ecològica i d'Aplicacions Forestals)

Date:	2020
Abstract:	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.
Grants:	European Commission 835541
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Topographic effects ; Topographic normalization ; Vegetation indices ; Sentinel-2
Published in:	Remote sensing (Basel), Vol. 12, Issue 14 (July 2020) , art. 2290, ISSN 2072-4292

DOI: 10.3390/rs12142290

9 p, 4.0 MB

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Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > CREAF (Centre de Recerca Ecològica i d'Aplicacions Forestals)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles