Abstract
The operational processing of NOAA-AVHRR data and the derivation of vegetation index (NDVI), leaf area index (LAI) and vegetation cover fraction for the European Alps is presented. The analysis was done for three elevation zones ( 2500m) to show the dynamic characteristic of vegetation in the years 1995 to 1998. The vegetation cover fraction shows a high variability in lower elevations during winter caused by the not persistent snow cover. In elevations above 2500m the high variability could be detected during summer. The exponential approach to derive LAI using NDVI data is only valid for elevations above 2000m or for NDVI less than 0.5. Otherwise the LAI values are saturated because small changes in NDVI result in an increased range of LAI up to 1.5. This prevents an exact derivation of leaf area index based on the normalized difference vegetation index.
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