Glossary for Geospatial Science

ND, ND6 and ND7: Normalized Difference.  Vegetation index computations developed for use with Landsat MSS.  These vegetation indices are now commonly used with any image that has the required spectral bands.  The bands required are approximately equivalent to the red and the photo-infrared spectral bands measured by color-infrared film.  The ND6 index used MSS band 6, and ND7 uses band 7.  Since these two Landsat MSS infrared bands are so highly correlated, similar results are possible using either of the computations or with any images that have an equivalent photo-infrared spectral band.  Good color-infrared image sources for processing into an ND or green biomass raster include Landsat MSS and TM, SPOT CIR, 35mm CIR film, 9" CIR film, and CIR video.