An evaluation of two data sources and their effectiveness for vegetation monitoring in developing countries using Normalized Difference Vegetation Indices (NDVI)

This report examines areas of vegetation monitoring and explains some of the technology used to carry out vegetation monitoring in developed and developing countries.;Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) was derived from two different sources of remotely sensed data using satellite imagery acquired in 1991 over northern Ghana; Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR).;Critical values were established to determine whether a value of NDVI obtained during the dry season in northern Ghana, for example, was low for that time of year possibly indicating increased environmental degradation. A monitoring system that watches the areas of non vegetation according to the critical value for that region sets the lower limits of NDVI values for a region that are more meaningful to that region. By setting the critical value at 0.10 for northern Ghana, any NDVI value above 0.10 was said to be vegetated. (Abstract shortened by UMI.).