Abstract

PAZ PELLAT, Fernando et al. Scopes and limitations of spectral vegetation indices: analysis of broad band indices. Terra Latinoam [online]. 2015, vol.33, n.1, pp.27-49. ISSN 2395-8030.

Currently, multiple and diverse vegetation indices (VI) are published. However, theoretical and experimental evidence indicates that problems exist in their design and application. In this paper, sixty indices were analyzed using radiative models of interactions of order one and two. The VI analyzed were converted into a general format associated with the patterns of the spectral curves isoLAI (equal leaf area index), at the static and dynamic levels. In the dynamic case, using spectral theoretical and experimental patterns or structures, it was shown that only one IV reproduced the pattern formulated. At the end, several exercises are presented for designing IV in the case of order one interactions and mixed order (one and two), using the analytic framework developed. As a conclusion, only one of the IV satisfies the theoretical and empirical requirements, but only for the vegetative-reproductive stage and up to maximum LAI.

Keywords : patterns analysis; iso-LAI curves; spectral spaces; remote sensing.