A new radar vegetation index for research in the dry areas

In view of the insensitivity of the available radar vegetation indices to dryland ecosystems, it is the purpose of this paper to develop a more pertinent new radar vegetation index, i.e., dryland radar vegetation index (DRVI), for land characterization using Sentinel 1 data based on the scattering entropy, scattering angle and cross polarization. After a comparison with the available radar indices and sensitivity analysis versus (vs) the optical remote sensing indices, the new index, DRVI, was found to have a stronger correlation with the optical vegetation indices such as the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), generalized difference vegetation index (GDVI), and mining and restoration assessment indices (MRAIs) and a higher sensitivity to dryland biomes than other radar vegetation indices. It is hence concluded that this DRVI has high potential of application in characterizing the dryland ecosystems despite it is derived from the Mu Us Sandy Land, China.