Landsat Enhanced Vegetation Index

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Landsat Surface Reflectance-derived Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) are produced from Landsat 4–5 Thematic Mapper (TM), Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+), and Landsat 8-9* Operational Land Imager (OLI)/Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) Collection 1 and Collection 2 scenes that have been processed to Landsat Level-2 Surface Reflectance products. *Landsat 9 = Collection 2 only

EVI is similar to Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and can be used to quantify vegetation greenness. However, EVI corrects for some atmospheric conditions and canopy background noise and is more sensitive in areas with dense vegetation. It incorporates an “L” value to adjust for canopy background, “C” values as coefficients for atmospheric resistance, and values from the blue band (B).  These enhancements allow for index calculation as a ratio between the R and NIR values, while reducing the background noise, atmospheric noise, and saturation in most cases.

EVI = G * ((NIR - R) / (NIR + C1 * R – C2 * B + L))

In Landsat 4-7, EVI = 2.5 * ((Band 4 – Band 3) / (Band 4 + 6 * Band 3 – 7.5 * Band 1 + 1)).

In Landsat 8-9, EVI = 2.5 * ((Band 5 – Band 4) / (Band 5 + 6 * Band 4 – 7.5 * Band 2 + 1)).

EVI is delivered as a single band product, specified as shown in the table below.

Data Access

Landsat Surface Reflectance-derived EVI are produced on-demand, using the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center Science Processing Architecture (ESPA) On Demand Interface. 

Visit the Landsat Surface Reflectance-derived Spectral Indices page for information on product contraints, citation, and reference information.