An empirical, graphical, and analytical study of the relationship between vegetation indices

The development of formulae for the reduction of multispectral scanner measurements to a single value (vegetation index) for predicting and assessing vegetative characteristics is addressed. The origin, motivation, and derivation of some four dozen vegetation indices are summarized. Empirical, graphical, and analytical techniques are used to investigate the relationships among the various indices. It is concluded that many vegetative indices are very similar, some being simple algebraic transforms of others.