Colour Index: The Colour Index algorithm was developed to differentiate soils in the field. Low valued CIs have been shown to be correlated with the presence of a high concentration of carbonates or sulfates and higher values to be correlated with crusted soils and sands in arid regions (Escadfal 1989). In most cases the CI gives complementary information with the BI and the NDVI. Used for diachronic analyses they help for a better understanding of the evolution of soil surfaces. The CI results from the following equation: CI = (red_factor * red - green_factor * green) / (red_factor * red + green_factor * green)

Brightness Index: This index is representing the average of the brightness of a satellite image. The Brightness Index algorithm is representing the average of the brightness of a satellite image. The result looks like a panchromatic image with the same resolution of the original image.This index is therefore sensitive to the brightness of soils which is highly correlated with the humidity and the presence of salts in surface (Escadafal 1989). The BI results from the following equation: BI = sqrt( ( (red_factor * red * red_factor * red) + (green_factor * green * green_factor * green) ) / 2 )

The Transformed Normalized Difference Vegetation Index algorithm indicates a relation between the amount of green biomass that is found in a pixel. (Senseman et.al. 1996). Transformed Normalised Difference Vegetation index (TNDVI) is the square root of the NDVI. It has higher coefficient of determination for the same variable and this is the difference between TNDVI and NDVI. The formula of TNDVI has always positive values and the variances of the ratio are proportional to mean values. The TNDVI results from the following equation: TNDVI = sqrt( (IR_factor * near_IR - red_factor * red) / (IR_factor * near_IR + red_factor * red) + 0.5)

The Normalized Difference Water Index algorithm was developed by Gao (19964) being a measure of liquid water molecules in vegetation canopies that interacted with the incoming solar radiation. NDWI is sensitive to changes in liquid water content of vegetation canopies. It is less sensitive to atmospheric effects than NDVI. NDWI does not remove completely the background soil reflectance effects therefore it should be considered as an independent vegetation index. It is complementary to not a substitute for NDVI. The NDWI results from the following equation: NDWI = (IR_factor * near_IR - mir_factor * middle_IR) / (IR_factor * near_IR + mir_factor * middle_IR)

The Normalised Difference Turbidity Index (NDTI) quantifies the difference in reflectance between specific spectral bands which correlates with suspended sediment and turbidity levels.

The Transformed Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index (TSAVI) method is a vegetation index that minimizes soil brightness influences by assuming the soil line has an arbitrary slope and intercept. TSAVI = (s *(NIR - s * Red - a)) / (a * NIR + Red - a * s + X * (1 + s2))

The Red-Edge Inflection Point Index algorithm was developed for applications in biomass and nitrogen (N) uptake measurement/management in heterogeneous fields.- Guyot et al. (1988). Red edge as the inflection point of the strong red absorption to near infrared reflectance includes the information of both crop N and growth status. The reflectance around red edge is sensitive to wide range of crop chlorophyll content N content LAI and biomass (Hatfield et al. 2008 Mutanga and Skidmore 2007 Steele et al. 2008b). The REIP general formula is based on linear four-point interpolation technique and it uses four wavebands (670 700 740 and 780 nm) - Guyot and Baret (1988). The REIP results from the following (Sensor-dependent) equation: REIP = 700 + 40 * ((r670 + r780)/2 - r700) / (r740 - r700) - as general formula or: REIP = 700 + 40 * ( (red1_factor * red1 + IR_factor * near_IR)/2) - red2_factor * red2 ) / (red3_factor * red3 - red2_factor * red2) )

MCARI gives a measure of the depth of chlorophyll absorption and is very sensitive to variations in chlorophyll concentrations as well as variations in Leaf Area Index (LAI). MCARI values are not affected by illumination conditions the background reflectance from soil and other non-photosynthetic materials observed.

The Pigment Specific Simple Ratio (chlorophyll index) algorithm was developed by Blackburn (1998). It investigates the potential of a range of spectral approaches for quantifying pigments at the scale of the whole plant canopy. When applying existing narrow-band pigment indices the PSSR algorithms have the strongest and most linear relationships with canopy concentration per unit area of Chl a (Chlorophyll a) Chl b (Chlorophyll b) and Cars (carotenoids). The PSSRa results from the following equation: PSSRa = (IR_factor * near_IR) / (red_factor * red)

The Modified Normalized Difference Water Index algorithm was developed by Xu 2006 and can enhance open water features while efficiently suppressing and even removing built-up land noise as well as vegetation and soil noise. The greater enhancement of water in the MNDWI-image will result in more accurate extraction of open water features as the built-up land soil and vegetation all negative values and thus are notably suppressed and even removed. The MNDWI results from the following equation: MNDWI = (green_factor * green - mir_factor * middle_IR) / (green_factor * green + mir_factor * middle_IR)