LAUSR

Leaf Area Index (LAI) is an important index that reflects the growth status of forest vegetation and land surface processes. It is of important practical significance to quantitatively and accurately estimate Leaf Area Index. We used the Landsat-8 operational land imager single-band images, and 15 vegetation indices that were extracted from the multi-band were combined with the LAI data measured from the CI-110 canopy digital imager to establish the LAI estimation model. Through the leave-one-out cross-validation method, the accuracy of various model estimation results was verified and compared, and the optimal estimation model was obtained to generate the LAI distribution map of Shangri-La City. The results show that: (1) the multivariable model method is better than the single-variable model method when estimating LAI, and its determination coefficient is the highest (R2 = 0.7903). (2) The full-sample dataset is divided into Alpine Pine forest, Oak forest, Spruce–fir forest, and Yunnan Pine forest for analysis. The coefficient of determination of the model simulation is improved to varying degrees, and the highest R2 increased by 0.1652, 0.1040, 0.1264, and 0.0079, respectively, over the full-sample. The corresponding best models are LAI–DVI (Difference Vegetation Index), LAI–NNIR (normalized near-infrared), LAI–NMDI (Normalized Multi-band Drought Index), and LAI–RVI (Ratio Vegetation Index). (3) The LAI values in Shangri-La City ranged from 0.9654 to 5.5145 and are mainly concentrated in high vegetation coverage areas; and the higher the vegetation coverage level, the higher the LAI value.