Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Landsat Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index

By Landsat Missions

Landsat Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index (SAVI) is used to correct Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) for the influence of soil brightness in areas where vegetative cover is low. 

Return to Landsat Surface Reflectance-derived Spectral Indices Overview

 

Landsat Surface Reflectance and Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
This image displays a (left) Landsat Surface Reflectance (SR) and (right) the SR-derived Landsat Surface Reflectance Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index (SAVI).

Landsat Surface Reflectance-derived Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index (SAVI) 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

SAVI is used to correct Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) for the influence of soil brightness in areas where vegetative cover is low. Landsat Surface Reflectance-derived SAVI is calculated as a ratio between the R and NIR values with a soil brightness correction factor (L) defined as 0.5 to accommodate most land cover types.

((NIR - R) / (NIR + R + L)) * (1 + L)

In Landsat 4-7, SAVI = ((Band 4 – Band 3) / (Band 4 + Band 3 + 0.5)) * (1.5).

In Landsat 8-9, SAVI = ((Band 5 – Band 4) / (Band 5 + Band 4 + 0.5)) * (1.5).

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

Landsat Surface Reflectance-derived Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index (SAVI) Specifications
Attribute Value
Long Name Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index
Short Name LC8SAVI, LE7SAVI, LT5SAVI, or LT4SAVI
File Name *_sr_savi.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 SAVI 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.