Abstract: Broadband vegetation index, which embodies the growth of green vegetation and surface biomass, plays an important role in quantitative management and prediction of surface resource and environment. According to the remotely-sensed spectral features of green vegetation, we summarize some typical vegetation indices and divide them into three categories: simple band combination approach, soil adjusted approach and atmospheric adjusted approach. Simple band combination approach includes ratio vegetation index, differential vegetation index, and normalized differential vegetation index, but the physical principle of them is still unclear. Soil adjustment approach includes perpendicular vegetation index, soil-adjusted vegetation index, and global environment monitoring index, which enhance vegetation information and reduce the interruption of soil background through the introduction of soil-adjusted parameter. Atmospheric adjusted approach includes atmospheric-resistant vegetation index, and enhanced vegetation index, which enhance atmospheric information and reduce the impact of atmospheric aerosol through the introduction of atmosphere adjusted parameter. Finally, the development trends and future prospects are also discussed.

Key words: broadband, vegetation index, remotely sensed spectral band, quantitative model, soil-adjusted, atmospheric adjusted