The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) is a numerical indicator used in remote sensing to analyze observations and determine if an area contains live green vegetation. NDVI compares the visible and near-infrared light reflected by plants, with healthy vegetation absorbing most visible light and reflecting a high amount of near-infrared light. The specific NDVI calculation takes the difference between near-infrared and visible light readings and divides it by their sum, resulting in a value from -1 to 1 that indicates vegetation density.