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NDVI, scale invariance and the modifiable areal unit problem: An assessment of vegetation in the Adelaide Parklands

Science of the Total Environment
By: , , , , , , and 
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.01.130

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Abstract

This research addresses the question as to whether or not the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) is scale invariant (i.e. constant over spatial aggregation) for pure pixels of urban vegetation. It has been long recognized that there are issues related to the modifiable areal unit problem (MAUP) pertaining to indices such as NDVI and images at varying spatial resolutions. These issues are relevant to using NDVI values in spatial analyses. We compare two different methods of calculation of a mean NDVI: 1) using pixel values of NDVI within feature/object boundaries and 2) first calculating the mean red and mean near-infrared across all feature pixels and then calculating NDVI. We explore the nature and magnitude of these differences for images taken from two sensors, a 1.24 m resolution WorldView-3 and a 0.1 m resolution digital aerial image. We apply these methods over an urban park located in the Adelaide Parklands of South Australia. We demonstrate that the MAUP is not an issue for calculation of NDVI within a sensor for pure urban vegetation pixels. This may prove useful for future rule-based monitoring of the ecosystem functioning of green infrastructure.

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Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title NDVI, scale invariance and the modifiable areal unit problem: An assessment of vegetation in the Adelaide Parklands
Series title Science of the Total Environment
DOI 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.01.130
Volume 584–585
Year Published 2017
Language English
Publisher Elsevier
Contributing office(s) Southwest Biological Science Center
Description 8 p.
First page 11
Last page 18
Country Australia
Other Geospatial Adelaide Parklands
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