Satellite data for vegetation and crop monitoring in Australia
By Mazdak Ghasemi · Last checked 22 October 2026
Which satellite data is best for monitoring vegetation and crops in Australia?
Optical imagery with red and near-infrared bands. The standard index is NDVI, (NIR − Red) / (NIR + Red), as USGS describes it. Sentinel-2's red and near-infrared bands are 10 m with a five-day revisit, and Landsat 8 and 9 add 30 m imagery continuing a record that reaches back to the 1980s. In Australia, Digital Earth Australia's Fractional Cover splits every cloud-free Landsat observation since 1986 into green vegetation, dry vegetation and bare ground.
Which data to use
| Data | Resolution | Revisit | Record | Use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sentinel-2 | 10 m (red B4, near-infrared B8) | 5 days | From June 2015 | Field-scale vegetation condition |
| Landsat 8 and 9 | 30 m (red band 4, near-infrared band 5) | 16 days each, 8 together | From 2013 | Condition and change, consistent with the long Landsat record |
| Landsat 5 and 7 archives | 30 m | Archive | 1984 to 2024 | Baselines and long-term change |
| DEA Fractional Cover | 30 m | Updated daily | From August 1986 | Green, dry and bare fractions for any area of Australia |
| Queensland SLATS | Mapped from Sentinel-2 (Landsat before 2018) | Yearly reports | Since the 1990s | Woody vegetation clearing and regrowth in Queensland |
How it is done
- Choose cloud-free scenes, or composites, for the dates and seasons you need.
- Calculate NDVI: (NIR − Red) / (NIR + Red). For Landsat 8 and 9 that is (Band 5 − Band 4) / (Band 5 + Band 4); for Sentinel-2, bands 8 and 4.
- Compare like with like across dates and seasons, and use Fractional Cover where groundcover (bare soil versus dry vegetation) matters more than greenness.
Limits to know
- Optical imagery needs cloud-free scenes; Fractional Cover is produced for every cloud-free observation, so cloudy periods leave gaps.
- DEA states an overall error (RMSE) of 11.9% for Fractional Cover, with no water masking and possible effects from soil moisture.
- In dense vegetation, USGS describes the Enhanced Vegetation Index as more sensitive than NDVI.
- Seasonal growth cycles can look like change; compare the same season across years.
Who does this in practice
- Digital Earth Australia's Fractional Cover measures green vegetation, dry vegetation and bare ground across Australia from Landsat since 1986.
- Queensland's Statewide Landcover and Trees Study (SLATS) maps woody vegetation clearing and regrowth; it used Landsat until 2017–18 and Sentinel-2 from 2018.
What Terrascout returns
The real result for “Monitor crop health around Mildura VIC every month for the next 12 months” (Mildura, VIC), captured on 22 October 2026: the top 3 of 6 sources.
| # | Source | Type | Resolution | Cost | Fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sentinel-2 MSI | Optical | 10 m | No data fee | 98 |
| 2 | Landsat 8 OLI/TIRS | Optical | 30 m | No data fee | 92 |
| 3 | Landsat 9 OLI-2/TIRS-2 | Optical | 30 m | No data fee | 92 |