NDVI Annual Range

Land Usev0

Responsible:Niccolò Calandri

NDVI Annual Range

Overview

The NDVI Annual Range measures the pixel-wise difference between the maximum and minimum NDVI values recorded over a one-year period. This indicator captures the phenological amplitude of vegetation, i.e. the degree of seasonal variation in photosynthetic activity.

Formula:

NDVI_range = NDVI_max − NDVI_min (pixel-wise, annual basis)

Interpretation of values:

High range values (> 0.5) → strong vegetation seasonality; deciduous forests, agricultural areas with marked crop cycles, temperate grasslands
Moderate range values (0.2–0.5) → moderate seasonal variation; mixed vegetation, transitional areas
Low range values (< 0.2) → stable vegetation; evergreen forests, urban areas, deserts

The indicator is particularly useful for:

Characterising vegetation phenological cycles
Identifying areas with high vegetative dynamism
Monitoring seasonality changes linked to climate change
Distinguishing between deciduous and evergreen land cover

Calculation Methodology

The calculation uses the Sentinel-2 Surface Reflectance Harmonized dataset (ESA/Copernicus), with bands B8 (NIR, 842 nm) and B4 (RED, 665 nm) at 10 m resolution, resampled to 15 m.

Data acquisition — all available Sentinel-2 images over the calendar year
Cloud masking — via SCL (classes 0,1,2,3,8,9,10 excluded)
Water masking — SCL class 6 excluded
NDVI calculation per image — NDVI = (B8 − B4) / (B8 + B4)
Pixel-wise max and min extraction
Range calculation — NDVI_range = NDVI_max − NDVI_min
Reprojection to EPSG:3857

Data Sources

Code	Name	Provider	Resolution	Availability
`WRD_S2XXX_99`	ESA Sentinel-2 L2A	ESA/Copernicus	10 m	2017-03-28 — present

Technical Notes

NDVI range is sensitive to cloud-free scene availability
The range captures both natural phenological variability and disturbance events
The index is dimensionless, with practical values between 0 and ~1.2

References

Rouse, J.W. et al. (1974). NASA SP-351, pp. 309–317.
Tucker, C.J. (1979). Remote Sensing of Environment, 8(2), pp. 127–150.
Zhang, X. et al. (2003). Remote Sensing of Environment, 84(3), pp. 471–475.

Data Sources & References

Sources

WRD_S2XXX_99

Methodology

Il range dell'NDVI viene calcolato a partire dalle immagini Sentinel-2 Surface Reflectance Harmonized, utilizzando le bande B8 (NIR, 842 nm) e B4 (RED, 665 nm). Per ciascuna immagine disponibile nell'anno, viene calcolato l'NDVI = (B8 − B4) / (B8 + B4) dopo mascheramento cloud via SCL. Per ciascun pixel, vengono estratti i valori massimo e minimo dell'NDVI sull'anno, e il range è calcolato come differenza (NDVI_range = NDVI_max − NDVI_min). La risoluzione finale è di 15 metri.