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Landsat Enhanced Vegetation Index

Landsat Enhanced Vegetation Index (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. 

Return to Landsat Surface Reflectance-derived Spectral Indices Overview

 

Landsat Surface Reflectance and Enhanced Vegetation Index
This image displays a (left) Landsat Surface Reflectance (SR) and (right) the SR-derived Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI).

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.
 

Landsat Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) Specifications

Attribute Value
Long Name Enhanced Vegetation Index
Short Name LC8EVI, LE7EVI, LT5EVI, or LT4EVI
File Name *_sr_evi.tif
Data Type Signed 16-bit Integer
Units Spectral Index (Band Ratio)
Valid Range -10,000 — 10,000
Fill Value Collection 2: -19999 Collection 1: -9999
Saturate Value 20,000
Scale Factor *0.0001

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. 

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