Earth:Vegetation condition index

In the field of remote sensing, the vegetation condition index (VCI) is an indicator of vegetation health at a given place and time, relative to that location in the same season in previous years. It is therefore a useful technique for remotely identifying the effects of extreme weather conditions, such as droughts.

Definition

The vegetation condition index is based on current and historical normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) measurements. Specifically, the VCI specifies the current NDVI value as a percentage between the minimum and maximum historically observed NDVI values for the same period in previous years. Lower values indicate poorer vegetation health.

External links

• Vegetation condition index in the Copernicus Global Land Service website