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At least 415 records · Page 23

Studies of optical and biological properties of terrestrial land cover using multispectral linear array technology

A series of experiments to study the optical and biological properties of terrestrial land cover are planned for late 1987 using a six-channel imaging spectroradiometer based on newly developed multispectral linear array (MLA) detector technology. Data from selected portions of the Sahel and rain forests of Africa and South America will be used to delineate biomass classes and estimate spherical albedos. A spatial resolution of 15 meters in the four visible-near IR channels and 30 meters in two shortwave IR channels, including a 'new' channel centered at 1.24 micrometers when combined with a spectral width of 20 nm for all channels, will be used to investigate possible improvements in land cover classification. Technology demonstrations include a test of data compression on data quality, the first spaceborne utilization of short wave infrared Schottky barrier Pd2Si detector arrays, and the use of close-butted, multi-array modules with attached spectral filters.

Barnes, W. L.↗

Changes in spectral properties of detached leaves

If leaf senescence can be delayed for several days without significant changes in spectral properties, then samples of leaves at remote test sites could be prepared and shipped to laboratories to measure spectral properties. The changes in spectral properties of detached leaves were determined. Leaves from red birch and red pine were immersed in water or 0.001 M benzylaminopurine (BAP) and stored in plastic bags in the dark at either 5 or 25 C. Total directional-hemispherical reflectance and transmittance of the adaxial surface of birch leaves were measured over the 400 to 1100 nm wavelength region with a spectroradiometer and integrating sphere. Pine needles were taped together and reflectance of the mat of needles was measured. Spectral properties changed less than 5% of initial values during the first week when leaves were stored at 5 C. Storage at 25 C promoted rapid senescence and large changes in spectral properties. BAP delayed, but did not stop, senescence at 25 C.

Daughtry, C. S. T.↗

Growth and reflectance characteristics of winter wheat canopies

A valuable input to crop growth and yield models would be estimates of current crop condition. If multispectral reflectance indicates crop condition, then remote sensing may provide an additional tool for crop assessment. The effects of nitrogen fertilization on the spectral reflectance and agronomic characteristics of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) were determined through field experiments. Spectral reflectance was measured during the 1979 and 1980 growing seasons with a spectroradiometer. Agronomic data included total leaf N concentration, leaf chlorophyll concentration, stage of development, leaf area index (LAI), plant moisture, and fresh and dry phytomass. Nitrogen deficiency caused increased visible, reduced near infrared, and increased middle infrared reflectance. These changes were related to lower levels of chlorophyll and reduced leaf area in the N-deficient plots. Green LAI, an important descriptor of wheat canopies, could be reliably estimated with multispectral data. The potential of remote sensing in distinguishing stressed from healthy crops is demonstrated. Evidence suggests multispectral imagery may be useful for monitoring crop condition.

Hinzman, L. D.↗

Light polarization measurements - A method to determine the specular and diffuse light-scattering properties of both leaves and plant canopies

The contributions of diffuse and specular reflection to the total canopy reflection of sunlight are determined experimentally for wheat at two stages of development using spectroradiometer measurements obtained at 13 wavelengths in the 480-720-nm range with a polarizing film in maximum and minimum signal-amplitude positions. The data and computation techniques are presented in tables, diagrams, and graphs, and the need to take specular reflection into account in constructing models of light/canopy interaction is stressed.

Vanderbilt, V. C.↗

Changes in spectral properties of detached birch leaves

A study conducted in order to determine the rate of changes in spectral properties of detached leaves and to evaluate the effectiveness of low temperature and cytokinins for delaying the changes, is examined. For five minutes, leaves from red birch are immersed in water or 0.001 M BAP, and then stored in plastic bags in the dark at either 5 or 25 C. Using a spectroradiometer and an integrating sphere, total directional-hemispherical reflectance and transmittance of the adaxial surface of the leaves are measured over the 400-1100 nm wavelength region. The results indicate that for leaves stored at 5 C for one week, the changes in the spectral properties are less than 5 percent of the initial values, whereas storage at 25 C promotes rapid senescence and large changes in the spectral properties. It is shown that low temperature is more effective than BAP in delaying senescence.

Daughtry, C. S. T.↗

Forest Species Identification with High Spectral Resolution Data

Data collected over the Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes Test Site and the Saginaw Forest Test Site (Michigan) with the JPL Airborne Imaging Spectrometer and the Collins' Airborne Spectroradiometer are being used for forest species identification. The linear discriminant function has provided higher identification accuracies than have principal components analyses. Highest identification accuracies are obtained in the 450 to 520 nm spectral region. Spectral bands near 1,300, 1,685 and 2,220 nm appear to be important, also.

Olson, C. E., Jr.↗

Remote sensing investigations of wetland biomass and productivity for global biosystems research

The relationship between spectral radiance and plant canopy biomass was studied in wetlands. Spectroradiometer data was gathered on Thematic Mapper wavebands 3, 4, and 5, and correlated with canopy and edaphic factors determined by harvesting. The relationship between spectral radiance and plant canopy biomass for major salt and brackish canopy types was determined. Algorithms were developed for biomass measurement in mangrove swamps. The influence of latitudinal variability in canopy structure on biomass assessment of selected plants was investigated. Brackish marsh biomass estimates were obtained from low altitude aircraft and compared with ground measurements. Annual net aerial primary productivity estimates computed from spectral radiance data were compiled for a Spartina alterniflora marsh. Spectral radiance data were expressed as vegetation or infrared index values. Biomass estimates computed from models were in close agreement with biomass estimates determined from harvests.

Klemas, V.↗

Patterns of reflected radiance associated with geobotanical anomalies

This paper summarizes three remote sensing experiments in which changes in remotely measured reflected radiance patterns of vegetation correlated with changes in geology. In two cases using airborne spectroradiometer data, changes in the physical properties of a uniform species correlated with zones of porphyry copper mineralization. In another case using Landsat digital data, changes were detected in the distribution and density of a number of species and combined with soil brightness data to produce a composite index useful for distinguishing lithologies.

Birnie, R. W.↗

Active-passive airborne ocean color measurement. I - Instrumentation

The instrumentation used in a multichannel lidar fluorosensor spectrometer functioning concurrently as a passive spectroradiometer for measuring upwelling ocean color radiance is discussed. The instrument calibration techniques are addressed, including the absolute passive calibration technique, the importance of relative channel-to-channel calibration for accurate ocean color measurement, and active mode calibration techniques using passive calibration transfer methods. Ground and flight test results from the dual-mode active-passive ocean color sensor are discussed.

Hoge, F. E.↗

Identification of hydrothermal alteration assemblages using airborne imaging spectrometer data

Airborne Imaging Spectrometer (AIS) data, field and laboratory spectra and samples for X-ray diffraction analysis were collected in argillically altered Tertiary volcanic rocks in the Hot Creek Range, Nevada. From laboratory and field spectral measurements in the 2.0 to 2.4 micron range and using a spectroradiometer with a 4 nm sampling interval, the absorption band centers for kaolinite were loacted at 2.172 and 2.215 microns, for montmorillonite at 2.214 micron and for illite at 2.205. Based on these values and the criteria for resolution and separtion of spectral features, a spectral sampling interval of less than 4 nm is necessary to separate the clays. With an AIS spectral sampling interval of 9.3 nm, a spectral matching algorithm is more effective for separating kaolinite, montmorillonite, ad illite in Hot Creek Range than using the location of absorption minima alone.

Feldman, S. C.↗

MODIS: Moderate-resolution imaging spectrometer. Earth observing system, volume 2B

The Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS), as presently conceived, is a system of two imaging spectroradiometer components designed for the widest possible applicability to research tasks that require long-term (5 to 10 years), low-resolution (52 channels between 0.4 and 12.0 micrometers) data sets. The system described is preliminary and subject to scientific and technological review and modification, and it is anticipated that both will occur prior to selection of a final system configuration; however, the basic concept outlined is likely to remain unchanged.

Source record↗

Evaluation of the airborne imaging spectrometer for remote sensing of forest stand conditions

Five pairs of plots were established in forest stands with one of each pair trenched and covered to prevent precipitation from reaching the tree roots. High winds and falling limbs destroyed the covers on three of the plots. The two remaining plots were in a red pine plantation and in a natural stand of sugar maple. Trees in both plots developed levels of moisture stress more than nine bars higher than control trees on the dates of overflights with the Airborne Imaging Spectrometer (AIS) and the Collins' Airborne Spectroradiometer (CAS). Hemispherical reflectance from stressed and control trees was measured with a Beckman DK2A spectrophotometer. On the day of the AIS overflight, stressed maple foliage was less reflective than the control from 1000 to 1300 nm, but more reflective at wavelengths longer than 1300 nm. Pine foliage was less reflective than the control from 1000 to 1600 nm, but the difference was small at wavelengths longer than 1350 nm. AIS data collected showed brightness values for both maple and pine to be lower than for the controls from 1000 to 1300 nm. CAS data were used to determine the gain in species identification accuracy obtainable with high spectral resolution data.

Olson, Charles E., Jr.↗

Ocean color spectral variability studies using solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence

It is suggested that chlorophyll-induced ocean color spectral variability can be studied using only a passive airborne spectroradiometer instrument, with solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence used as the standard against which all correlations are performed. The intraspectral correlation (ISC) method is demonstrated with results obtained during an airborne mapping mission in the New York Bight. The curvature algorithm is applied to the solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence at about 690 nm, and good agreement is found with results obtained using active-passive correlation spectroscopy. The ISC method has application to spectral variability and resulting chlorophyll concentration measurement in different environmental conditions and in different water types.

Hoge, Frank E.↗

Spectrometric test of a linear array sensor

A spectroradiometer which measures spectral reflectivities and irradiance in discrete spectral channels was tested to determine the accuracy of its wavelength calibration. This sensor is a primary tool in the remote sensing investigations conducted on biomass at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Measurements have been collected on crop and forest plants both in the laboratory and field with this radiometer to develop crop identification and plant stress remote sensing techniques. Wavelength calibration is essential for use in referencing the study measurements with those of other investigations and satellite remote sensor data sets. This calibration determines a wavelength vs channel address conversion which was found to have an RMS deviation of approximately half a channel, or 1.5 nm in the range from 360 to 1050 nm. A comparison of these results with those of another test showed an average difference of approximately 4 nm, sufficiently accurate for most investigative work.

Brown, Kenneth S.↗

Development of remote sensing techniques capable of delineating soils as an aid to soil survey

Eighty-one benchmark soils from Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, and Mississippi were evaluated to determine the feasibility of spectrally differentiating among soil categories. Relationships among spectral properties that occur between soils and within soils were examined, using discriminant analysis. Soil spectral data were obtained from air-dried samples using an Exotech Model 20C field spectroradiometer (0.37 to 2.36 microns). Differentiating among the orders, suborders, great groups, and subgroups using reflectance spectra achieved varying percentages of accuracy. Six distinct reflectance curve forms were developed from the air-dried samples based on the shape and presence or absence of adsorption bands. Iron oxide and organic matter content were the dominant soil parameters affecting the spectral characteristics for differentiating among and between these soils.

Coleman, T. L.↗

Characterization of the Nimbus-7 SBUV radiometer for the long-term monitoring of stratospheric ozone

Precise knowledge of in-orbit sensitivity change is critical for the successful monitoring of stratospheric ozone by satellite-based remote sensors. This paper evaluates those aspects of the in-flight operation that influence the long-term stability of the upper stratospheric ozone measurements made by the Nimbus-7 SBUV spectroradiometer and chronicles methods used to maintain the long-term albedo calibration of this UV sensor. It is shown that the instrument's calibration for the ozone measurement, the albedo calibration, has been maintained over the first 6 yr of operation to an accuracy of approximately + or - 2 percent. The instrument's wavelength calibration is shown to drift linearly with time. The knowledge of the SBUV wavelength assignment is maintained to a 0.02-nm precision.

Cebula, Richard P.↗

The spectral bidirectional reflectance of snow

A radiative transfer model for the bidirectional reflectance-distribution function (BRDF) shows that snow is moderately anisotropic in the near-infrared wavelengths. Although the directional-hemispherical albedo of snow decreases as the grains become larger, the forward scattering also increases, with the result that the illumination and viewing geometry must be considered when interpreting physical properties of the surface layer of the snow pack from remote sensing data. Measurements of the BRDF for a variety of snow conditions were made throughout the winter and spring seasons with a spectroradiometer, for wavelengths from 0.38 to 1.11 microns. Coincident with these the surface grain properties were analyzed by stereological methods. The data show that Mie scattering calculations using an equivalent spherical radius match the directional-hemispherical reflectance, but the BRDF usually shows a small peak in the backscattered direction that would not occur from spherical grains. The sphere with the same surface-to-volume ratio as the ice grains is used as the equivalent sphere.

Dozier, J.↗

The Multichannel Ocean Color Sensor (MOCS)

The MOCS is an imaging spectroradiometer with a sensitivity that matches the light upwelling from open bodies of water. Twenty contiguous spectral channels in the visible are recorded in a line scanning mode from an aircraft. The system also supports a thermal infrared radiometer and will accept input from a position location system. The sensor in the MOCS system is an image dissector tube. A spectral curvature algorithm was developed. No atmospheric correction to the data is needed for low flying aircraft gathering chlorophyll data using this algorithm. Although the MOCS is now about 15 years old, because its response has been so stable, its data recording system was upgraded to the system used by the Aircraft Oceanographic Lidar where possible. The MOCS has been a reliable instrument for recording ocean color from low flying aircraft. As NASA enters the next period of ocean color investigations from space, such a device can play an important role in calibration of the space instrument, as well as provide support for programs developing the next generation of spaceborne devices.

Oberholtzer, J. D.↗