The analysis of MODIS NDVI and EVI with LAI was based on 2001 data only. The relationships between NDVI–
LAI and EVI–LAI throughout the year are also given in Table 1. Since there was only one year of data available to
investigate the relationship of MODIS NDVI and EVI with LAI, the focus must be on intraannual variations in the
relationships. Near-perfect linear relationships were obtained for both LAI–MODIS NDVI (R2=0.99) and LAI–MODIS EVI (R2=0.92) during the leaf production period. On the contrary, no linear relationship was found for
either pair during the period of constant leaf area. The major discrepancy was found during the leaf senescence period.
Whereas MODIS NDVI still showed a very strong linear relationship with LAI (R2=0.80), the relationship between
MODIS EVI and LAI was poor with R2 of 0.38. This was the only case where R2 lower than 0.80 was found as related
to LAI during the leaf senescence period in an individual year. Therefore, MODIS EVI has not demonstrated any
advantage over other indices (MODIS NDVI, VEGETATION NDVI, and AVHRR NDVI) in relation to LAI.However, given the limited data, this generalization may be inappropriate.