Vegetation indices - spectrometer - flightline (DP2.30026.001)

The Vegetation Indices data product is a collection of five spectral indices: NDVI, EVI, ARVI, PRI and SAVI. These indices use regions of reflectance spectra known to be indicators of vegetation health, vegetation health in high LAI areas, vegetation health in lush and/or humid regions, and vegetation health in mixed soil and vegetation landcover areas.

Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) is the normalized ratio of NIR and Red bands. Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index (SAVI) is the normalized ratio of NIR and Red bands with corrections factors to minimize soil contribution. Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) is a ratio of NIR and Red bands that also includes the Blue channel for better aerosol characterization. The Photochemical Reflectance Index (PRI) is a normalized ratio of bands sensitive to xanthophyll pigments. The Atmospherically Resistant Vegetation Index (ARVI) is a ratio of the NIR and Red bands which also leverages the Blue band to account for atmospheric effects.

The indices are derived from NEON Airborne Observation Platform (AOP) Imaging Spectrometer (NIS) data collected in North-South oriented flight lines to reduce BRDF effects. These data are derived from the orthorectified directional surface reflectance (DP1.30006.002). L2 Vegetation Indices are distributed in the original North/South flight lines and are packaged as a .zip file containing one geotiff (.tif) file for each index, and include estimated uncertainty (error) .tifs as well.

Latency:
AOP data are expected to be available 60 days after the final collection day at a site. Note: Data for airborne collections in 2022 and 2023 are currently being added to the data portal under a new revision number (DP2.30026.002), so will not be available here. Vegetation indices derived from directional reflectance will still be available for earlier collections (pre 2022) until they are re-processed with all of the latest reflectance corrections.