Normalized Difference Snow Index

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The Landsat Surface Reflectance-derived normalized difference snow index (NDSI) are produced from Collection 2 (C2) Landsat 4-5 Thematic Mapper (TM), Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+), and Landsat 8-9 Operational Land Imagery (OLI)/Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) scenes that successfully process to Landsat Collection 2 Level-2 Surface Reflectance products.

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The C2 NDSI science product is the normalized difference between spectral bands green (G) and the shortwave infrared (SWIR). The NDSI is particularly useful for separating snow from vegetation, soils, and lithology endmembers. The NDSI uses the TM and ETM+ Bands 2 and 5, whereas for OLI the algorithm uses Bands 3 and 6:

 (G – SWIR1) / (G + SWIR1)

In Landsat 4-7, NDSI = (Band 2 – Band 5) / (Band 2 + Band 5)

In Landsat 8-9, NDSI = (Band 3 – Band 6) / (Band 3 + Band 6)

The probability that snow is present is proportional to how close the NDSI pixel value is to 1 (range –1 to 1).

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

Landsat Normalized Difference Snow Index (NDSI) Specifications

Data Access

Landsat Collection 2 Surface Reflectance-derived NDSI 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 webpage for information on product constraints, citation, and reference information.