Development of New Vegetation Indexes, Shadow Index (si) and Water Stress Trend (wst)

For the analysis of vegetation areas using satellites, a variety of vegetation indexes such as NDVI and EVI have been developed. However, most indexes have weak response to grasping the type and quality (the growth state and situation) of vegetation. To grasp these vegetation characteristics, we have developed new vegetation indexes, i.e. shadow index (SI) and water stress trend (WST). We estimate SI from damping factor of radiation caused by shadow and apply it for analysis of vegetation type and structure. And we also estimate WST from variation of vegetation temperature which corresponds to vegetation moisture content, and apply it to detect the damage from water stress. We report preliminary results applied these indexes to satellite data. Two indexes are useful for vegetation analysis, such as the grasp of vegetation type, canopy structure, and drought state.