Vegetation
Leaf-radiation interference Factors affecting reflectance Spectral signature Vegetation indices Leaf Area Index Global vegetation monitoring
Vegetation
Vegetation and RS
Inter- and intra-annual global vegetation monitoring on a periodic basis Global biogeochemical, climate and hydrological modeling Net primary production and carbon balance Anthropogenic and climate change detection Agricultural activities (plant stress, harvest yields, precision agriculture) Famine early warning systems Drought studies Landscape disturbance (volcanic, fire scars, etc.) Land cover and land cover change products Biophysical estimates of vegetation parameters (% cover, LAI, fAPAR) Public health issues (rift valley fever, mosquito producing rice fields )
Leaf reflectance
The function (photosynthesis) and structure of the leaf generate a special spectral signature
Chlorophyll absorption
Leaf reflectance
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Leaf reflectance
Three zones in leaf reflectance spectrum 1. PAR, high absorption (sub-regions a-c)
Leaf reflectance
2. near-IR (0,74-1,1m)
reflectance very high/ absorption minimal scattering amplifies the spectral reflectance, especially for dense canopies. 0,79-0,90 m avoids atmospheric water vapour absorption most appropriate for monitoring vegetation reflectance can reach fifty per cent on the IR plateau level of IR plateau depends on the internal structure of the leaf. The level increases with the number of layers of cells, their size and the orientation of cell walls (Guyot and Riom 1988) high absorption due to the liquid water of the mesophyllic cells.
very high leaf absorption (pigments of chlorophyll a and b & caretenoids in the chloroplasts) Red wavelengths (0,62-0,70 m) strongest contrast to soil reflection due to high chlorophyll absorption.
high scatter of the PAR give pigments multiple chances to absorb the active wavelengths
High scatter is due mainly to differences in the refractive index between the air spaces (1.0), hydrated cells (1.4), and the irregular facets of the exteriors of cells
3. mid-IR ( 1.3-2.5 m)
Leaf reflectance
soil reflectance
visible and near-IR: increases steadily over wavelengths; mid-IR: oscillates like, but above reflectance from vegetation.
RED
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NIR
this combination of high values in the red layer and low values in the green layer gives vegetation a red colour.
Vegetation indices
quantitative measurements indicating vigour of vegetation Better sensitivity than ind. Spectral bands for detection of biomass Ideal VI: the index should be particularly sensitive to vegetative covers, insensitive to soil brightness, insensitive to soil color, little affected by atmospheric effects, environmental effects and solar illumination geometry and sensor viewing conditions (Jackson et al., 1983) I.e. Other factors than leaf reflectance are of importance!
Biological domain/internal Physical domain/external
Biological domain
several other parameters can change vegetation canopy reflectance even if the leaf hemispherical reflectance remains constant, or vice versa (Colwell, 1974) Optical properties of vegetation
Indivdual level Species level Physiognomy and phenology Temporal changes
Water content, age, mineral deficiency, parasitic attacks,
RED
NIR
SAVI
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might increase Red and decrease near-IR reflectance, making vegetation approach the soil reflectance curve. These parameters are important at the individual level.
Physical domain/external
Atmosphere
Uniform surface and atmosphere without clouds
NIR darkening of bright surface
Scattering and water vapor absorption (20%)
Critical surface reflectance (radiance vs. Optical thickness) Aerosol scattering (0.04-0.20 unit decrease in NDVI), water vapor (0.040.08) and Rayleigh scattering (0.020.04)
Background
Effective background reflectance:
Its importance increases as coverage becomes thinner; aridity, agriculture, LAI below 2 Difficult to extract vegetation information for coverages below 30% (hutchinson, 1989) resolution! Brightness
shadowing, texture, material, wetness Soil line
Angular effects
Three angles are important for the registered reflectance effects are inter-related
solar zenith angle: angle between the direction of incident sunlight and the vertical line from nadir to zenith look angle: angle between the sensor and the vertical line from nadir to zenith
Color
Width of soil line
azimuth angle: angle between the planes defined by solar zenith and look angle
Angular effects
The solar zenith angle changes daily and seasonally. point of insensitivity:
When vegetation coverage rises beyond a certain threshold, the reflectance is saturated and thus insensitive to a further increase in coverage varies with the solar zenith- and look-angles look-angle 0 (nadir viewing) & increasing zenith angle: the point of insensitivity is at a lesser coverage (the same reflectance is registered for vegetation coverages that it was possible to distinguish with a smaller zenith angle). The same trend is seen if the solar zenith angle is kept constant and the look angle increases
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Angular effects
a The sensitivity of the IR band is greater than that of the Red band. effects of the azimuth and lookangles has to be considered together:
azimuth is 90 (b), a change in lookangle gives a symmetrical spectral response around the nadir axis. However, the symmetry is different for visible and IR wavelengths. azimuth is 180 (c), looking up-sun, gives a lower reflectance than when looking down-sun, i.e. when the azimuth is 0 (a) (Colwell 1974, Guyot and Riom 1988)
a b
Spectral signature
Greeness and openess of vegetation high VI Internal variation hetereogenity of veg type Age, height, density etc.
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Vegetation indices, VI
VI Vegetation highlight vegetation Integrative functions of canopy, structural (% cover, LAI, LAD) and physiological (pigments, photosynthesis) parameters Soil line Water
The tasseled cap of the IR-red dataspace (data are extracted from a mid-summer MSS data-set from Western Norway)
Red IR scatterdiagram tasseled cap; high IR and low Red VI = mathematical combination of these bands
Vegetation indices
Vegetation indices
Several VI exists Amplify vegetation by normalising data/ topographic effects Amount of data reduced Categorisation different schemes
High vegetation cover, lowest red and highest IR; RED sensitivity
First generation (Bannari et al. 1995) second generation (Bannari et al. 1995)
Vegetation indices
Difference indices = IR Red; vegetation high positive values Ratio indices = IR/Red
Variations on this simple ratio Adding constants, squaring, square root etc. to normalise (positive values, 0-1) All produce lines radiating out from an origo; equal value on this line + Normalisation good (varying soil and irradiance conditions) - overestimation over dark soil
Vegetation indices
Orthogonal indices
Soil line; soil/background plots on single line Vegetation emerges orthogonally Axis of variation by
Linear regression PCA Gram-Schmidt orthogonalisation
First generation VI
First generation VI
Vegetation indices
Linear combinations Not considering - Exterior factors or soil-vegetation interactions Designed for specific sensors and applications Interpretation distinct differences between ratio and orthogonal indices BUT small differences seen between studies applying one or another VI! Perry and Lautenschlager (1984) Discussing 48 diff. VIs functional equivalence
Vegetation indices
Vi= IR R
IR
Red
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Second generation VI
Based on knowledge of physical phenomena
Interaction between EM radiation, atmosphere, vegetative cover and soil background
Second generation VI
Generally based on reflectance values, corrected for sensor calibration and atmospheric effects NDVI most widely used, reference for evaluating new indices
PVI
400,00 350,00 300,00 250,00 200,00 150,00 100,00 50,00 0,00 -50,00 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 Serie1
PVI - model
PVI=(NIR-aR-b)/ (SQRT(a**2+1))
PVI
Vegetation isolines
Pairs of RED and NIR
representing equal amounts of a particular vegetation parameter changing the optical properties of the background fixed Leaf Area Index (LAI ) and Leaf Angle Distribution (LAD) constant external conditions
Represent the true behavior of a constant vegetation condition against a wide range of canopy background conditions
Vegetation isolines
Plot of the vegetation points with the SAIL model (marks) for various LAI and soil reflectance and the NDVI isolines (dotted lines). (Huete el al, 1999)
Vegetation isolines
Vegetation isoline equations Simulations (SAIL) can help understanding optical properties of vegetation and to develop better/more resistant VIs Background/soil reflectance (red) 0.05, 0.2 and 0.35: increasing brightness Vegetation isolines do not include soil reflectance!
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NDVI
SAVI
A driving biophysical variable Input to models; hydrological, ecological, climate Varies with plant/tree species, mean annual temperature, length of season, water supply and stock age Range 0 16, maximum reached in evergreen forests at western coast of USA Quantification
directly/indirectly in field Indirectly relationship to surface reflectance and therefore SVI
LAI - SVI
Several SVIs related to LAI
Red/NIR combinations (NDVI, SR, SAVI)
Turner et al. 1999
Atmospheric and topographic correction Optimal relation depends on vegetation type and density
LAI SVI
SVIs including MIR band
Similar reflectance across backgrounds Larger sensitivity to LAI Including MIR performs better than equivalent SVIs without MIR (Boyd et al. 2000, Brown et al. 2000, Nemani et al. 1993, Spanner et al. 1990)
LAI
MODIS VI
How are global ecosystems changing? What changes are occurring in global land cover and land use, and what are their causes? How do ecosystems respond to and affect global environmental change and the carbon cycle?
Products:
NDVI, Normalized Difference VI. Continuity index that will extend 20 years of AVHRR EVI, Enhanced Vegetation index
takes advantages of MODIS radiometric characteristics, corrected surface reflectance. expected to give improved sensitivity in high biomass regions and improved vegetation monitoring through a de-coupling of the canopy background signal and a reduction in atmosphere influences.
September 2000
September 2000
MODIS faPAR
December 2000
April 2001
April 2001
0.5
0.9
LAI is defined as the one sided green leaf area per unit ground area in broadleaf canopies and as the projected needle leaf area in coniferous canopies.
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faPAR is defined as the fraction of incident photosynthetically active radiation (0.4 - 0.7 m) absorbed by the vegetation canopy.
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