• Submit to Remote Sensing Login Register
• MDPI
• Journals A-Z
• For Authors
• For Editors
• About
• Open Access Policy

• Abstract
• Full-Text PDF [1890 KB]
• Full-Text XML
• Article Versions Notes

• Article Statistics
• Google Scholar
• Order Reprints

• Cite this article
• Export to BibTeX
• Export to EndNote

• [+] on DOAJ
• Agapiou, A
• Hadjimitsis, DG.
• Alexakis, DD.
• [+] on Google Scholar
• Agapiou, A
• Hadjimitsis, DG.
• Alexakis, DD.
• [+] on PubMed
• Agapiou, A
• Hadjimitsis, DG.
• Alexakis, DD.

•  CiteULike
•  Facebook
•  Mendeley
•  Twitter

This article is

• freely available
• re-usable

Remote Sens. 2012, 4(12), 3892-3919; doi:10.3390/rs4123892

Article

Evaluation of Broadband and Narrowband Vegetation Indices for the Identification of Archaeological Crop Marks

Athos Agapiou* , Diofantos G. Hadjimitsis and Dimitrios D. Alexakis

Department of Civil Engineering and Geomatics, Cyprus University of Technology, Remote Sensing Laboratory, Saripolou 2-8, 3603 Limassol, Cyprus

* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received: 15 October 2012; in revised form: 3 December 2012 / Accepted: 5 December 2012 / Published: 7 December 2012

Download PDF Full-Text [1890 KB, uploaded 7 December 2012 13:41 CET]

Abstract: Several studies in the past have examined the spectral capability of multispectral and hyperspectral imagery for the identification of crop marks, while recent studies have applied different vegetation indices in order to support remote sensing archaeological applications. However, the use of vegetation indices for the detection of crop marks lacks in accuracy assessment and critical evaluation. In this study, 71 vegetation indices were indexed, from the relevant bibliography, and evaluated for their potential to detect such crop marks. During this study, several ground spectroradiometric campaigns took place, in a controlled archaeological environment in Cyprus, cultivated with barley crops, during a complete phenological cycle (2011–2012). All vegetation indices, both broadband and narrowband, were evaluated for their separability performance, and the results were presented through tables and diagrams. In the end, the use of more than one vegetation index is suggested in order to enhance the final results. In fact, several not widely used vegetation indices are suggested and evaluated using both Landsat TM and EO-1 Hyperion images.

Keywords: vegetation indices; remote sensing archaeology; ground spectroscopy; crop marks; Alampra test field

Article Statistics

Cite This Article