A Soil-Adjusted Vegetation Index

Abstract

A transformation technique is presented to minimize soil brightness influences from spectral vegetation indices involving red and near-infrared (NIR) wavelengths. Graphically, the transformation involves a shifting of the origin of reflectance spectra plotted in NIR-red wavelength space to account for first-order soil-vegetation interactions and differential red and NIR flux extinction through vegetated canopies. For cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L. var DPI-70) and range grass (Eragrosticslehmanniana Nees) canopies, underlain with different soil backgrounds, the transformation nearly eliminated soil-induced variations in vegetation indices. A physical basis for the soil-adjusted vegetation index (SAVI) is subsequently presented. The SAVI was found to be an important step toward the establishment of simple °lobal¿ that can describe dynamic soil-vegetation systems from remotely sensed data.