Soil-Adjusted Vegetation Index (SAVI)

"The Soil-Adjusted Vegetation Index (SAVI) is a vegetation index that attempts to minimize soil brightness influences using a soil-brightness correction factor. This is often used in arid regions where vegetative cover is low.

SAVI = ((NIR - Red) / (NIR + Red + L)) x (1 + L)

    NIR = pixel values from the near infrared band
    Red = pixel values from the near red band
    L = amount of green vegetation cover

NIR and Red refer to the bands associated with those wavelengths. The L value varies depending on the amount of green vegetative cover. Generally, in areas with no green vegetation cover, L=1; in areas of moderate green vegetative cover, L=0.5; and in areas with very high vegetation cover, L=0 (which is equivalent to the NDVI method). This index outputs values between -1.0 and 1.0.

Reference: Huete, A. R., 1988, "A soil-adjusted vegetation index (SAVI)," Remote Sensing of Environment, Vol 25, 295–309." (ESRI, 2018)