Abstract: In this paper it is studied how the statistical parameters of the individual spectral bands (standard deviations, mean values and correlation coefficient between the near infrared and red band) control the histogram of the Normalized Differences Vegetation Index (NDVI), which is widely used in environmental remote sensing. The basic idea of the whole approach is that as long as the standard deviation of the NDVI values increases, the tonality contrast of the NDVI image improves and the vegetation cover is more clearly mapped. Using proper bivariate Gaussian distributions to describe the histograms of the individual bands, it is shown that the width of the NDVI histogram increases with the standard deviations of the two individual bands and decreases with the correlation coefficient between the bands. It is also shown that the standard deviation of the NDVI presents a weaker decay tendency with the correlation coefficient than the modified simple band ratio does. The results and conclusions of this study may be useful in assessing the performance of the NDVI in environmental research (land cover mapping).
Keywords: reflectance, correlation coefficient, spectral band, modified simple vegetation index, normalized differences vegetation index, bivariate distribution.
Title: A Study of the Histogram of the Normalized Differences Vegetation Index In Terms Of the Statistical Parameters of the Near Infrared and Red Spectral Bands
Author: Georgios Aim. Skianis
International Journal of Mathematics and Physical Sciences Research
ISSN 2348-5736 (Online)
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