Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Landsat Modified Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index

Modified Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index (MSAVI) minimizes the effect of bare soil on the Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index (SAVI).

Return to Landsat Surface Reflectance-derived Spectral Indices Overview

 

Landsat Surface Reflectance and Modified Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index
This image displays a (left) Landsat Surface Reflectance (SR) and (right) the SR-derived Modified Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index (MSAVI).

Landsat Surface Reflectance-derived Modified Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index (MSAVI) 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

MSAVI minimizes the effect of bare soil on the Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index (SAVI). MSAVI is calculated as a ratio between the R and NIR values with an inductive L function applied to maximize reduction of soil effects on the vegetation signal.

(2 * NIR + 1 – sqrt ((2 * NIR + 1)2 – 8 * (NIR - R))) / 2

In Landsat 4-7, MSAVI = (2 * Band 4 + 1 – sqrt ((2 * Band 4 + 1)2 – 8 * (Band 4 – Band 3))) / 2.

In Landsat 8-9, MSAVI = (2 * Band 5 + 1 – sqrt ((2 * Band 5 + 1)2 – 8 * (Band 5 – Band 4))) / 2.

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

 

Landsat Surface Reflectance-derived Modified Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index (MSAVI) Specifications
Attribute Value
Long Name Modified Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index
Short Name LC8MSAVI, LE7MSAVI, LT5MSAVI, or LT4MSAVI
File Name *_sr_msavi.tif
Data Type Signed 16-bit Integer
Units Spectral Index (Band Ratio)
Valid Range -10,000 — 10,000
Fill Value -9999
Saturate Value 20,000
Scale Factor *0.0001

Data Access

Landsat Surface Reflectance-derived MSAVI 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.