Daily Global Vegetation Indices from Landsat Satellites at 30m Resolution

Daily global observations from 2013 to present are provided by the Harmonized Landsat and Sentinel-2 (HLS) project, funded by NASA's Satellite Needs Working Group. The dataset contains nine vegetation health indices derived from Landsat 8 and Landsat 9 Operational Land Imager data, gridded to a 30-meter spatial resolution. Combined measurements enable land observation every 1.6 days.

Use Cases

• Track vegetation changes over time by analyzing time-series stacks of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI).
• Identify areas of drought stress or deforestation using the Normalized Difference Moisture Index (NDMI) and Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR).
• Assess crop health and phenology by monitoring the Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index (SAVI) and Modified Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index (MSAVI) across growing seasons.
• Detect water bodies and vegetation moisture content changes with the Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI).
• Analyze post-fire recovery and burn severity through the Normalized Burn Ratio 2 (NBR2) and Triangular Vegetation Index (TVI).

Strengths

• Global coverage with observations every 1.6 days, enabling dense time-series analysis.
• Contains nine specific vegetation indices including NDVI, EVI, SAVI, NDMI, NBR, and NDWI.
• Data is harmonized and 'stackable' across the Landsat and Sentinel-2 platforms using a consistent Military Grid Reference System (MGRS) tiling system.
• 30-meter spatial resolution provides detail for regional and local-scale studies.

Limitations

• Specific row counts, file sizes, and exact temporal start dates for the V2.0 product are not provided in the description.
• Data is derived from specific sensor bands; atmospheric conditions and cloud cover can affect data quality and require masking.
• The description does not specify the license, which is critical for determining permissible use.

Provenance

Source

NASA/USGS Landsat 8 and Landsat 9 Operational Land Imager (OLI) satellites.

Collection Method

Derived from satellite data products and processed by the HLS project to generate consistent vegetation indices.

Time Range

From 2013 (Landsat 8 launch) to present.

Freshness

Daily update frequency.

Geography

Global land coverage.