Compositing the Minimum NDVI for MODIS Data

The maximum and minimum normalized difference vegetation indexes (NDVIs) describe two extremes of vegetation greenness during a predefined period. A maximum NDVI image can be composited easily via the direct selection of the maximum NDVI from multiple observations without the need to mask out cloud or snow. But, a minimum NDVI image cannot be built in a similar manner. In this paper, an approach was proposed to composite the minimum NDVI (the least vegetation greenness) image. The minimum spectral index that consists of the green (555 nm) and SWIR bands (2130 nm) from MODIS data, which was named here as the Brown Vegetation Index (BVI), was taken as a proxy to composite the minimum vegetation NDVI. This composite method performs well on a global scale for the NDVIs that were derived from MODIS land surface reflectance (MOD09A1) products. The BVI-based minimum NDVI was compared with the direct selection of the minimum NDVI after excluding contaminated observations using a refined cloud/snow mask. The comparison shows that the difference for 97% of the minimum NDVI between the two approaches is within the range of ±0.1 NDVI unit. Various potential spectral indices for compositing the minimum NDVI were compared, which demonstrated the BVI-based approach was top rated. Several examples demonstrated that the composited minimum NDVI is valuable and effective for identifying evergreen forests, monsoon forests, and double cropping. The minimum NDVI combined with the maximum NDVI would simplify the way to describe intraannual vegetation changes.