Abstract
The red edge position (REP) in the vegetation spectral reflectance is a surrogate measure of vegetation chlorophyll content, and hence can be used to monitor the health and function of vegetation. The Multi-Spectral Instrument (MSI) aboard the future ESA Sentinel-2 (S-2) satellite will provide the opportunity for estimation of the REP at much higher spatial resolution (20m) than has been previously possible with spaceborne sensors such as Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) aboard ENVISAT. This study aims to evaluate the potential of S-2 MSI sensor for estimation of canopy chlorophyll content, leaf area index (LAI) and leaf chlorophyll concentration (LCC) using data from multiple field campaigns. Included in the assessed field campaigns are results from SEN3Exp in Barrax, Spain composed of 35 elementary sampling units (ESUs) of LCC and LAI which have been assessed for correlation with simulated MSI data using a CASI airborne imaging spectrometer. Analysis also presents results from SicilyS2EVAL, a campaign consisting of 25 ESUs in Sicily, Italy supported by a simultaneous Specim Aisa-Eagle data acquisition. In addition, these results were compared to outputs from the PROSAIL model for similar values of biophysical variables in the ESUs. The paper in turn assessed the scope of S-2 for retrieval of biophysical variables using these combined datasets through investigating the performance of the relevant Vegetation Indices (VIs) as well as presenting the novel Inverted Red-Edge Chlorophyll Index (IRECI) and Sentinel-2 Red-Edge Position (S2REP). Results indicated significant relationships between both canopy chlorophyll content and LAI for simulated MSI data using IRECI or the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) while S2REP and the MERIS Terrestrial Chlorophyll Index (MTCI) were found to have the strongest correlation for retrieval of LCC.
Highlights
Europe’s Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) programme (ESA, 2011a) includes two Sentinel 2 (S-2) satellites designed to provide systematic global acquisitions of high resolution multispectral imagery
The MERIS Terrestrial Chlorophyll Index (MTCI) and Sentinel-2 Red-Edge Position (S2REP) are the only two Vegetation Indices (VIs) in the analysis that solely characterise the RE which has been shown to be sensitive to variation in leaf chlorophyll concentration (LCC) (Horler et al, 1983; Curran et al, 1990; Dash and Curran, 2004)
Previous experimental studies have shown low LCC to be associated with red edge position (REP) values near 700 nm and high LCC to attain REP results closer to 725 nm (Boochs et al, 1990; Horler et al, 1980; Lamb et al, 2002)
Summary
Europe’s Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) programme (ESA, 2011a) includes two Sentinel 2 (S-2) satellites designed to provide systematic global acquisitions of high resolution multispectral imagery. The Multi-Spectral Instrument (MSI) aboard S-2 has been designed to enable the continuity of Satellite Pour l’Observation de la Terre (SPOT) and Landsat type data into the future. MSI builds upon the heritage of the ESA MEdium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) and experience with the NASA MODerate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instruments in providing more spectral bands than Landsat or SPOT. Bands known to be important in sensing vegetation will have a spatial resolution of 10 m or 20 m, others will have 60 m resolution. S-2 will have a radiometric accuracy of
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