Mapping shrub abundance in desert grasslands using geometric-optical modeling and multi-angle remote sensing with CHRIS/Proba

Mark Chopping, Lihong Su, Andrea Laliberte, Albert Rango, Debra P.C. Peters, Naushad Kollikkathara

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

48 Scopus citations

Abstract

This work examines the application of a geometric-optical canopy reflectance model to provide measures of woody shrub abundance in desert grasslands at the landscape scale. The approach is through inversion of the non-linear simple geometric model (SGM) against 631 nm multi-angle reflectance data from the Compact High Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (CHRIS) flown on the European Space Agency's Project for On-Board Autonomy (Proba) satellite. Separation of background and upper canopy contributions was effected by a linear scaling of the parameters of the Walthall bidirectional reflectance distribution function model with the weights of a kernel-driven model. The relationship was calibrated against a small number of sample locations with highly contrasting background/upper canopy configurations, before application over an area of about 25 km2. The results show that with some assumptions, the multi-angle remote sensing signal from CHRIS/Proba can be explained in terms of a combined soil-understory background response and woody shrub cover and exploited to map this important structural attribute of desert grasslands.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)62-73
Number of pages12
JournalRemote Sensing of Environment
Volume104
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 15 Sep 2006

Keywords

  • Canopy reflectance
  • Dessert grasslands
  • Geometric-optical
  • Modeling
  • Multi-angle remote sensing
  • Semi-arid environments
  • Woody shrub encroachment

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