What is Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)?
Historical Background
Key Points
7 points- 1.
Formula: ==NDVI = (NIR - Red) / (NIR + Red)==, where NIR is near-infrared reflectance and Red is red light reflectance.
- 2.
Range: Values typically range from -1 to +1. Higher positive values (e.g., 0.2 to 0.9) indicate dense, healthy vegetation.
- 3.
Interpretation: Healthy vegetation has high NIR reflectance and low red reflectance due to chlorophyll absorption, resulting in high NDVI values.
- 4.
Chlorophyll: The index is sensitive to the amount of chlorophyll present in plants, which is a key indicator of photosynthetic activity and plant health.
- 5.
Applications: Used for drought monitoring, crop yield estimation, deforestation tracking, vegetation mapping, and assessing ecosystem productivity.
- 6.
Limitations: Can saturate in very dense vegetation, sensitive to atmospheric effects, and soil background can influence readings in sparse vegetation.
- 7.
Variants: Other indices like Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) have been developed to address some of NDVI's limitations.
Visual Insights
NDVI: Understanding Vegetation Health from Space
A mind map explaining the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), its formula, interpretation, key applications in environmental monitoring and agriculture, and its limitations.
Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)
- ●What it is
- ●How it Works
- ●Key Applications
- ●Limitations
- ●UPSC Relevance
Recent Developments
4 developmentsIntegration of NDVI with AI/ML models for more accurate and predictive agricultural insights.
Availability of higher spatial and temporal resolution NDVI data from new satellite constellations.
Use in precision agriculture for variable rate application of fertilizers and irrigation.
Development of cloud-based platforms for easy access and analysis of NDVI time-series data.