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NDWI
NDWI
NDWI
INTRODUCTION
The normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) is
the most widely used index for remote sensing of vegetation in the past two decades. It is equal to (/~IR- pnED) /
(pMR+ P~D), where PREP is the radiance (in reflectance
units) of a red channel near 0.66 /~m, and pNln the
radiance (in reflectance units) of a near-IR channel
around 0.86 /lm. This index has been used in many
applications, including estimation of crop yields and
end-of-season above-ground dry biomass (Tucker et al.,
1986). The two channels used in NDVI sense through
different depths of vegetation canopies. The near-IR
channel can see roughly eight leaf layers, while the red
channel sees only one leaf layer or less (Lillesaeter,
1982) because of the strong chlorophyll absorption near
0.67 ktm. In spite of its usefulness, NDVI is known to
be saturated when applied to images over areas having
leaf area index of 3 or greater. Numerous other vegetation indices with varying complexity have been developed using the same set of near-IR and red channels
during the past decade. These indices do not have nearly
the same popularity as that of NDVI. The recently
developed Atmospherically Resistant Vegetation Index
(ARVI) (Kaufman and Tanr6, 1992) used not only the
near-IR and red channels, but also a blue channel near
0.47 pm. This index has self-correction properties for
the atmospheric effect.
0034-4257 / 96 / $15.00
PII S0034-4257(96)00067-3
258
Gao
Remote sensing of vegetation liquid water has important applications in agriculture and forestry. In this
article, a normalized difference water index (NDWI)
that uses two near-IR channels centered approximately
at 0.86 lxm and 1.24 ttm for remote sensing of vegetation
liquid water from space is proposed. The 1.24-ttm channel has not been used previously in the formation of
vegetation indices. Preliminary research on this index
was reported in a scientific conference (Gao, 1995).
--
0.8
Redwood (Green)_
~
j
0.6
..... R e d w o o d ( D r y )
-
...
Z
~
r~
0.4
i
i
0.2
i
BACKGROUND
0.0
0.4
0.6
0.a
1.0
1.2
1.4
1.6
l.B
WAVELENGTH ( t i m )
2.0
2.2
2.4
The normalized difference water index (NDWI) proposed here uses two near-IR channels; one centered
approximately at 0.86 tim, and the other at 1.24 ttm.
Following the simplicity of NDVI, NDWI is defined as
NDWI
(1)
0.40
1.0
5O
C.2
Z
0.8
0.30
t0.6
0~
0.20
0.4
~=
0.05
........
0.2
.....
0,0
0.80
cm
0.10 em
0.20 cm
0.40
I
I
o.1o
cm
0.90
1.00
1.10
1.20
WAVELENGTH (/zm)
1.30
1.40
Figure 2. Liquid water transmittances for water thicknesses of 0.05 cm, 0.1 cm, 0.2 cm, and 0.5 cm (from top
to bottom).
Some land surface areas are covered partially by vegetation. The influence of soil background on NDWI must
o.oo
o.o
Figure 3.
0.2
0.4
LIQUID WATER THICKNESS ( e r a )
Sensitivity of NDWI
0.6
260
Gao
O.40L
. . . . . . . . .
'
. . . . . . . . .
'
. . . . . . . . .
i . . . . . . . . .
0.10F
. . . . . . . . .
'
. . . . . . . . .
'
. . . . . . . .
++++
-~
++* ~, +'w +
+
+
+~+*
!
]
-]
""<
>+;
,
!
-0.40
~ .~*r ++ +
~4.~z'+; "
+ + ~ + + +
+
4-
(A):
0.00
. . . . . .
0.00
. . . . . . . .
0.10
0.6
. . . . . . . .
0.20
0.30
o.5oF
. . . . . . . . .
0.00
0.40
., , , . . . .. .. .. . . . . .
,,
0.10
o.z0
SOILS
. . . .
, , , , , q
0.30
0.40
!3
+
%
++
,
.~
.~
0.00~
E
_%"-0.10~-
"f"~#+~
+~++
0.4
WET
.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .
++
-~
, +++++ U++++e*+,+
_0.20
++
++
++j
Noe
-0.30
+-
--
-i
i
++
-0.40~-
(B):
DRIER
SOILS
0.01,/
0.0
0.2
REFLECTANCE
0.4
(0.86
-0.50-~
0.6
~m)
0.00
, , ,,
0.10
, ,
t ,
o.e0
, .....
,
0.30
REFLECTANCE
,
0.40
,,
r,
o.so
,4
0.e0
(0.86 /zm)
N D W I for mixtures of all the wet soils with this vegetation (solid line) and the mean N D W I for mixtures of all
the drier soils with this vegetation (dotted line) as a
function of vegetation area fraction. Both curves show
that the mean N D W I increases as the vegetation area
fraction increases.
A t m o s p h e r e
0.I0
-0.05
........
0.40
(A)
- - -
~
r.t.1
0.30
.......
p ( 0 . 6 6 bzm)
- ....
p ( 0 . 8 6 5 ~.m)
p(1.24 /zm)
0.00
.o........,......"'"'"'"'"'"'""
r.
-0.05
~. 0.20
p,
7
-0.10
,'~
0.i0
-0.15
-0.20
0.0
0.2
0.6
0.8
VEGETATION AREA FRACTION
0.4
0.00
1.0
1.25
Figure 7. Sample water vapor and liquid water transmittance spectra. The positions and widths of two MODIS
channels are marked as short thick horizontal bars in this
figure.
1.2
. . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . .
(B)
NDVI
- - -
NDWI
.....
S c a l e d NDVl
1.00
0.75
........
O.50
0.25
0.00
.
0.00
L.
I.
0.25
0.50
0.75
AEROSOL OPTICAL DEPTH
1.00
1.0
0.8
o.e
.,
0.4
- . . . .
0.2
O,OI
. . . . . . . . .
0.80
WATER VAPOR
LIQUID WATER ( 0 . 2 e m )
i
. . . .
0.90
, , , . . i
. . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . .
1.00
1.10
WAVELENGTH (/~m)
. . . . . . . .
1.20
1.30
262
Gao
0.55
0.050
0.50
~ ~ . " "
...."-..-"-..
0.45
"'"l.""
"A
0.040
0.40
0.030
~" 0.35
~"
........
4 Leaves
6 Leaves
,
,
0,301
1.10
"~
\
\
"]
I
NUMBER
(B)
N
0.020
'
'
4
OF LEAF LAYERS
I
6
1.00
{.9
z
[..
t9
0.80
r,. 0 . 7 0
.........
---
0.80
0.8
4 Leaves
I:
6 Leaves
l
1.0
1.2
ii
1.4
WAVELENGTH (/zm)
stacks of leaves with two, four, and six layers in the 0.81.4/tm region; b) similar to a), except that the spectra are
normalized near 0.86/tm.
with an integrating sphere. Broad leaves picked from a
small tree in a greenhouse were stacked inside a sample
holder. The interior bottom and side surfaces of the
holder were painted black in order to decrease the
reflection and scattering from these surfaces. Figure 9a
shows the measured reflectance spectra for stacks of
leaves with two, four, and six leaf layers in the 0.8-1.4
/tm region. As leaf layer increases, the absolute values
of reflectances in the entire spectral region are increased. The weak liquid water absorption bands centered approximately at 0.98/tm and 1.20/tm are obviously seen from this figure. Figure 9b is similar to Figure
9a, except that the spectra are normalized near 0.86
/~m. As the leaf layer increases, the reflectance near
1.24/tm relative to that near 0.80/tm is decreasing due
to the increased liquid water absorption. Figure 10
shows NDWls calculated from the measured spectra as
a function of leaf layers. NDWIs increase as leaf layer
increases-indicating that NDWI is sensitive to the total
amounts of liquid water in the stacked leaves.
Figure 11. Images of NDVI (a) and NDWI (b) calculated from spectral imaging data acquired with AVIRIS over Jasper
Ridge, California on 2 June 1992.
0.80
0.70
''
~':
0.60
...
'"!'!:~
;.
'Hdlh,H!l II
I,
0,50
h..l~l
i~
~;~,':
h:l~:~!':',!:,il;L
0.40
-. . . . . .".i 't . , . .; h .
0.00
'
'
:, : "
~-
: '.
". : , ,
"
:
-
ii I i',::
17
~.
"r
'
:"
r~
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:::~"--:'~ ~ - . 7 "
:, .da. .h.~ r.' l l.. ~., ,.! ~., l . . !!i. . . ~.: :.' . .
:
::"::'
IT
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~
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"
"
;.-'.
.,
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]
,,
~:~:::;
::;'":~':
;~:i:;.::-::
:,
, : : . . ,, ~ ~i , ~
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':'i.:".'~
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',
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"
~,
il.
IIII[I II
';ii!;kq!:i2'~i!'i
l.a:~Lill,
'
I'
0.05
0.10
NDWI
0.15
264
Gao
1.2
t~
N
1.0
/
t~
o
os
/ J
i.%1
%
:7
0.6
m
tw 0.4
!
t.-,
Z
0.2
"~ 0.0
0.8
. . . . . . BARE SOIL
[4
....
GRASS
CROP (Irrigated)
I
1.0
1.2
1.4
WAVELENGTH (~zrn)
Figure 13. Samples of apparent reflectance spectra (normalized near 0.86 pm) measured with AVIRIS over
areas covered by bare sandy soils, natural grasses, and
irrigated crops.
H i g h Plains, C o l o r a d o
D I S C U S S I O N A N D SUMMARY
265
Figure 14. Images of NDVI (a) and NDWI (b) calculated from spectral imaging data acquired with AVIRIS over an area in
the High Plains in northern Colorado.
REFERENCES
Bowker, D. E., Davis, R. E., Myrick, D. L., Staey, K., and
Jones, W. T. (1985), Spectral reflectances of natural targets
266
Gao
Salomonson, V. V., Barnes, W. L., Maymon, P. W., Montgomery, H. E., and Ostrow, H. (1989), MODIS: advanced
facility instrument for studies of the earth as a system.
IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens. 27:145-153.
Stoner, E. R., and Baumgardner, M. F. (1980), Physiochemical,
site and bidirectional reflectance factor characteristics of
uniformly moist soils, NASA CR-160571, pp. 1-50.
Tucker, C. J. (1980), Remote sensing of leaf water content in
the near-infrared, Remote Sens. Environ. 10:23-32.
Tucker, C. J., Justice, C. O., and Pince, S. D. (1986), Monitoring the grasslands of the Sahel 1984-1985, Int. J. Remote
Sens. 7:1571-1581.
Vane, G., Green, R. O., Chrien, T. G., Enmark, H. T., Hansen,
E. G., and Porter, W. M. (1993), The Airborne Visible
Infrared Imaging Spectrometer, Remote Sens. Environ.
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Yuhus, R. H., Boardman, J. W., and Goetz, A. F. H. (1993),
Determination of semi-arid landscape endmembers and
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