Leaf Area Index Measurements Research Articles

A Model to Estimate Leaf Area Index in Loblolly Pine Plantations Using Landsat 5 and 7 Images

Vegetation indices calculated from remotely sensed satellite imagery are commonly used within empirically derived models to estimate leaf area index in loblolly pine plantations in the southeastern United States. The data used to parameterize the models typically come with observation errors, resulting in biased parameters. The objective of this study was to quantify and reduce the effects of observation errors on a leaf area index (LAI) estimation model using imagery from Landsat 5 TM and 7 ETM+ and over 1500 multitemporal measurements from a Li-Cor 2000 Plant Canopy Analyzer. Study data comes from a 16 quarter 1 ha plot with 1667 trees per hectare (2 m × 3 m spacing) fertilization and irrigation research site with re-measurements taken between 1992 and 2004. Using error-in-variable methods, we evaluated multiple vegetation indices, calculated errors associated with their observations, and corrected for them in the modeling process. We found that the normalized difference moisture index provided the best correlation with below canopy LAI measurements (76.4%). A nonlinear model that accounts for the nutritional status of the stand was found to provide the best estimates of LAI, with a root mean square error of 0.418. The analysis in this research provides a more extensive evaluation of common vegetation indices used to estimate LAI in loblolly pine plantations and a modeling framework that extends beyond the typical linear model. The proposed model provides a simple to use form allowing forest practitioners to evaluate LAI development and its uncertainty in historic pine plantations in a spatial and temporal context.

Validation of baseline and modified Sentinel-2 Level 2 Prototype Processor leaf area index retrievals over the United States

The Sentinel-2 Level 2 Prototype Processor (SL2P) is made available to users for the retrieval of vegetation biophysical variables including leaf area index (LAI) from Multispectral Instrument (MSI) data within the Sentinel Application Platform (SNAP). A limited number of validation exercises have indicated SL2P LAI retrievals frequently meet user requirements over agricultural environments, but perform comparatively poorly over heterogeneous canopies such as forests. Recently, a modified version of SL2P was developed, using the directional area scattering factor (DASF) to constrain retrievals as an alternative to regularisation (SL2P-D). Whilst SL2P makes use of prior information on expected canopy conditions, SL2P-D is trained using uniform distributions of input parameters to define radiative transfer model (RTM) simulations. Using in situ measurements available through the Copernicus Ground Based Observations for Validation (GBOV) service, we performed an extensive validation of SL2P and SL2P-D LAI retrievals over 19 sites throughout the United States. For effective LAI (LAIe), SL2P demonstrated good overall performance (RMSD = 0.50, NRMSD = 31%, bias = −0.10), with all LAI retrievals meeting the Sentinels for Science (SEN4SCI) uncertainty requirements over homogeneous canopies (cultivated crops, grasslands, pasture/hay and shrub/scrub), whilst underestimation occurred over heterogeneous canopies (deciduous forest, evergreen forest, mixed forest, and woody wetlands). SL2P-D retrievals demonstrated reduced bias, slightly improving overall performance when compared with SL2P (RMSD = 0.48, NRMSD = 30%, bias = −0.05), indicating its retrieval approach appears to offer some advantages over regularisation using prior information, especially at LAIe > 3. Additionally, SL2P-D resulted in 32% more valid retrievals than SL2P, with the largest differences observed at LAIe < 1. Validation against in situ measurements of LAI as opposed to LAIe yielded similar patterns but poorer performance (RMSD = 1.08 to 1.13, NRMSD = 49% to 52%, bias = −0.64 to −0.68) because the RTM used by SL2P and SL2P-D does not account for foliage clumping. In addition to the retrievals themselves, we examined the relationship between predicted uncertainties and observed differences in retrieved and in situ LAI. With respect to LAIe, SL2P’s predicted uncertainties were conservative, underestimating observed differences in only 35% of cases, whilst those for LAI were unbiased.

Estimating Processing Tomato Water Consumption, Leaf Area Index, and Height Using Sentinel-2 and VENµS Imagery

Crop monitoring throughout the growing season is key for optimized agricultural production. Satellite remote sensing is a useful tool for estimating crop variables, yet continuous high spatial resolution earth observations are often interrupted by clouds. This paper demonstrates overcoming this limitation by combining observations from two public-domain spaceborne optical sensors. Ground measurements were conducted in the Hula Valley, Israel, over four growing seasons to monitor the development of processing tomato. These measurements included continuous water consumption measurements using an eddy-covariance tower from which the crop coefficient (Kc) was calculated and measurements of Leaf Area Index (LAI) and crop height. Satellite imagery acquired by Sentinel-2 and VENµS was used to derive vegetation indices and model Kc, LAI, and crop height. The conjoint use of Sentinel-2 and VENµS imagery facilitated accurate estimation of Kc (R2 = 0.82, RMSE = 0.09), LAI (R2 = 0.79, RMSE = 1.2), and crop height (R2 = 0.81, RMSE = 7 cm). Additionally, our empirical models for LAI estimation were found to perform better than the SNAP biophysical processor (R2 = 0.53, RMSE = 2.3). Accordingly, Sentinel-2 and VENµS imagery was demonstrated to be a viable tool for agricultural monitoring.

Continuous estimation of leaf area index and the woody-to-total area ratio of two deciduous shrub canopies using fisheye webcams in a semiarid loessial region of China

Automatic and accurate measurements of the leaf area index (LAI) can provide information about key parameters of vegetation structure in an ecosystem. Little attention, however, has been paid to LAI dynamics for shrub canopies in both arid and semiarid regions compared to forests and crops. One of the main sources of error when measuring shrub LAI from the indirect method is the woody part. The influence of woody parts on LAI estimations can be expressed as the woody-to-total area ratio, α; there are also relatively few studies on α value of shrubs, especially the dynamic changes of α. This study used a new cost-effective tool, the fisheye webcam, to derive daily LAI and α in the fields of Caragana korshinskii and Salix psammophila on the Loess Plateau in China. The LAI data were compared with measurements acquired by an LAI-2200 Plant Canopy Analyzer and direct methods. The LAI-2200 data were consistent with the effective plant area index (PAIeff) estimated using upward-pointing webcams (UPWs) (R2 = 0.89, root mean square error (RMSE) = 0.21) but not downward-pointing webcams (DPWs) (R2 = 0.52, RMSE = 0.68). Shrub PAIeff derived from the DPWs was much smaller than PAIeff derived from the UPWs over the season (y = 0.48x–0.03, R2 = 0.79, RMSE = 0.85). LAI derived from the direct methods was strongly linearly correlated with the PAI minus WAI obtained from upward digital hemispherical photography (R2 = 0.94, RMSE = 0.62 for C. korshinskii and R2 = 0.99, RMSE = 0.31 for S. psammophila). This result indicates that the upward digital hemispherical photography for deriving PAI and WAI performs good, which can be utilized to calculate LAI accurately. The woody-to-total area ratio (α) of deciduous shrub canopies was a dynamic parameter that varied throughout the season, decreasing as the canopy leaves developed and increasing when they fell. α = 1 for the leaf-off season and < 0.1 when the foliage peaked. α differed little between the two shrub canopies (R2 = 0.95, RMSE = 0.07), and it could be used to convert PAI to LAI for C. korshinskii and S. psammophila. The UPWs demonstrated excellent potential for continuous LAI measurement for the two shrub canopies, but the DPWs should be further tested before use. The fisheye-webcam is inexpensive and can easily monitor LAI at field scale and can be used to evaluate LAI products derived from remote sensing.

Application of Remote Sensing Techniques to Discriminate the Effect of Different Soil Management Treatments over Rainfed Vineyards in Chianti Terroir

The work aimed to discriminate among different soil management treatments in terms of beneficial effects by high-resolution thermal and spectral vegetation imagery using an unmanned aerial vehicle and open-source GIS software. Five soil management treatments were applied in two organic vineyards (cv. Sangiovese) from Chianti Classico terroir (Tuscany, Italy) during two experimental years. The treatments tested consisted of conventional tillage, spontaneous vegetation, pigeon bean (Vicia faba var. minor Beck) incorporated in spring, mixture of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) and clover (Trifolium squarrosum L.) incorporated or left as dead mulch in late spring. The images acquired remotely were analyzed through map-algebra and map-statistics in QGIS and correlated with field ecophysiological measurements. The surface temperature, crop water stress index (CWSI) and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) of each vine row under treatments were compared based on frequency distribution functions and statistics descriptors of position. The spectral vegetation and thermal-based indices were significantly correlated with the respective leaf area index (R2 = 0.89) and stem water potential measurements (R2 = 0.59), and thus are an expression of the crop vigor and water status. The gravel and active limestone soil components determined the spatial variability of vine biophysical (e.g., canopy vigor) and physiological characteristics (e.g., vine chlorophyll content) in both farms. The vine canopy surface temperature, and CWSI were lower on the spontaneous and pigeon bean treatments in both farms, thus evidencing less physiological stress on the vine rows derived from the cover crop residual effect. In conclusion, the proposed methodology showed the capacity to discriminate across soil management practices and map the spatial variability within vineyards. The methodology could serve as a simple and non-invasive tool for precision soil management in rainfed vineyards to guide producers on using the most efficient and profitable practice.

Improved retrieval of land surface biophysical variables from time series of Sentinel-3 OLCI TOA spectral observations by considering the temporal autocorrelation of surface and atmospheric properties

Estimation of essential vegetation properties from remote sensing is crucial for a quantitative understanding of the Earth system. Ill-posedness of the model inversion problem leads to multiple interpretations of one satellite observation, and using prior information is a promising way to reduce the ill-posedness and increase the accuracy of land surface products. Tobler's first law of geography states that “everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things”. Likewise, it is expected that the state of an object at a single moment is related to the state at every other moment, but temporally near attributes are more related than distant ones. This temporal autocorrelation is a vital source of prior information and can be used to improve the retrieval accuracy. In this study, we develop a retrieval framework that makes use of the temporal autocorrelation and dependence of land surface and atmospheric properties. We apply this retrieval algorithm to Sentinel-3 Ocean and Land Colour Instrument (OLCI) satellite data to derive land surface biophysical variables with a focus on leaf area index (LAI) from top-of-atmosphere (TOA) radiance observations. The results from both a synthetic dataset and a real satellite dataset show that the use of the temporal continuity as a priori information improves the accuracy of the estimation of land surface properties, such as leaf chlorophyll content and LAI. Compared with the MODIS LAI products, much less unrealistic short-term fluctuations are found in the LAI retrievals from OLCI with the time-series retrieval approach across different land cover types including cropland, forest and savannah. Field measurements of LAI at two forest sites quantitatively confirm that the estimated LAI from OLCI is reasonably accurate with R2 > 0.65 and RMSE < 1.00 m2m−2. Overall, the time series retrieval results in more robust and smoother time series than standard retrievals of LAI from individual scenes, more stable retrievals than the MODIS LAI product, and values of LAI that match better with reported measurements in the field. The present retrieval framework can make better use of time series of spectral observations and potentially of multi-sensor observations.

Evaluation of weed impact on wheat biomass by combining visible imagery with a plant growth model: towards new non-destructive indicators for weed competition

To evaluate the impact of weeds on crops, precise identification and early prediction are required. This paper presents two new non-destructive indicators deduced from visible images: weed pressure (WP) and wheat growth status (WGS). They are based on the fractional vegetation cover (FVC) obtained from digital vegetation maps (crop vs. weeds) in a wheat field. FVC was determined for both plants with a Matthews Correlation Coefficient of 0.86 using machine learning classification [support vector machine-radial basis function (SVM-RBF)] combined with Bag of Visual Words technique. It was compared to destructive measurements of above-ground biomass (BM) and leaf area index (LAI). Since the coefficient of determination between FVC and BM is very good for wheat crop (r2 = 0.93), FVC is used to feed a growth model based on the Monteith equation. Replacing the standard approach by the image approach in the initialization of the model had no impact on the simulated BM values. WP characterized weed pressure, namely the FVCw/FVCc ratio and it quantified the crop–weed competition. The results show that up to the tillering stage, it could substitute for the BMw/BMc ratio resulting from a destructive approach. The second indicator, WGS assessed crop health through the monitoring of biomass production. It compared the theoretical wheat biomass simulated under non-stressed conditions, BMsimulated, to the actual biomass, BMobserved. The impact of weed on crop was evaluated by combining the results of these two indicators. This simple and fast method based on proximal detection data offers promising results in agroecological cropping systems, where high responsiveness is a major challenge for site-specific weed management.

Leaf area index retrieval of urban vegetation based on sentinel-2 data in Zhongshan, South China

Leaf area index (LAI) is an important indicator of vegetation growth and health monitoring. The free access of Sentinel-2 optical satellite data from European Space Agency (ESA) since June 2015 made it possible to determine dynamic monitoring of LAI in a large area and a short re-entry period, owing to its high spatial resolution (up to 10 m) and unique band combination. These features of Sentinel-2 may bring great application potential in urban forestry management and ecological environment monitoring. In case of Zhongshan city in Guangdong Province, based on Sentinels Application Platform (SNAP) software and two scenes of Sentinel-2 data, LAI of the whole city, as well as specific areas, were retrieved and analyzed. The retrieval result was consistent with the ecological spatial pattern and the vegetation protection status in Zhongshan city, also highly consistent with the field LAI measurement in the forest in a reservoir. The result indicates that this method has good applicability and accuracy in urban LAI inversion.

A Model-Downscaling Method for Fine-Resolution LAI Estimation

The leaf area index (LAI) is a critical parameter for characterizing the structure and function of vegetation in ecosystems. Currently, operational LAI products always have coarse spatial resolution, and fine-resolution LAI maps are urgently needed for ecological environment assessment and the precise monitoring of cropland growth. LAI downscaling methods are efficient at improving the spatial resolution of LAI products but often ignore the scaling effect of the model. In this study, a novel model-downscaling method is proposed for fine-resolution LAI estimation. It uses scaling equations of model parameters (SEMPs) to describe the scaling relations of models at different spatial resolutions and construct a downscaled model from a coarse-resolution model. Landsat Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) at 30 m and Global LAnd Surface Satellite (GLASS) LAI at 1 km spatial resolutions are used because they are readily available. The downscaled model is evaluated by a fine-resolution model directly constructed with fine-resolution data. The fine-resolution LAI values estimated by this model-downscaling method are evaluated with field LAI measurements. The validation results show that the proposed method can generate highly accurate LAIs, with an RMSE of 0.821 at the Pshenichne cropland site in Ukraine and an RMSE of 0.515 at the Camerons forest site in Australia when compared with field LAI measurements. The results are also better than those of Ovakoglou’s downscaling method. These results demonstrate that the model-downscaling method for fine-resolution LAI estimation is viable and referable for related studies.

Simultaneous measurements of corn leaf area index and mean tilt angle from multi-directional sunlit and shaded fractions using downward-looking photography

Accurate, efficient, timely, and affordable measurements of crop structural parameters such as leaf area index (LAI) and mean tilt angle (MTA) are needed for crop growth modeling and precision field management. In this paper, a novel method was proposed to simultaneously measure corn (Zea mays L.) LAI and MTA using a low-cost indirect approach. The proposed method is based on multi-directional fractions of sunlit and shaded leaf and soil components obtained from nadir-viewing field photos captured under different solar angles. LAI and MTA were retrieved using a look-up-table (LUT) established using a Pov-Ray based geometrical canopy model. The method was validated using LAI-2200C field-measured data. Results showed that the estimated LAI were consistent with the LAI-2200C measurements, with a mean absolute error (MAE) of 0.11, relative MAE (RMAE) of 5%, and coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.89. The estimated average MTA was also close to that measured using the LAI-2200C, with the MAE of 5.9°, RMAE of 11% and R2 of 0.40. The proposed method provides accurate and efficient measurements of corn crop structural parameters. Thus, it is recommended as an affordable and effective field data collection method.

Fusion of Sentinel-2 and PlanetScope time-series data into daily 3 m surface reflectance and wheat LAI monitoring

The dynamics of Leaf Area Index (LAI) from space is key to identify crop types and their phenology over large areas, and to characterize spatial variations within growers’ fields. However, for years remote-sensing applications have been constrained by a trade-off between the spatial and temporal resolutions. This study resolves this limitation. Over the past decade, the number of companies and organizations developing CubeSat constellations has increased. These new satellites make it possible to acquire large image collections at high spatial and temporal resolutions at a relatively low cost. However, the images obtained from CubeSat constellations frequently suffer from inconsistency in the data calibration between the different satellites within the constellation. To overcome these inconsistencies, a new method to fuse a time series of images sourced from two different satellite constellations is proposed, combining the advantages of both (i.e., the temporal, spatial and spectral resolution). This new technique was applied to fuse PlanetScope images with Sentinel-2 images, to create spectrally-consistent daily images of wheat LAI at a 3 m resolution. The daily 3 m LAI estimations were compared with 57 in-situ wheat LAI measurements taken in Australia and Israel. This approach was demonstrated to successfully estimate Green LAI (LAI before the major on-set of leaf senescence) with an R2 of 0.94 and 86% relative accuracy (RMSE of 1.37) throughout the growing season without using any ground calibration. However, both the Sentinel-2 based estimates and the fused Green LAI were underestimated at high LAI values (LAI > 3). To account for this, regression models were developed, improving the relative accuracy of the Green LAI estimations by up to a further 47% (RMSE of 0.35–0.63) in comparison with field measured LAI. The new time series fusion method is an effective tool for continuous daily monitoring of crops at high-resolution over large scales, which opens up a range of new precision agriculture applications. These high spatio-temporal resolution time-series are valuable for monitoring crop growth and health, and can improve the effectiveness of farming practices and enhance yield forecasts at the field and sub-field scales.

Mapping Canopy Chlorophyll Content in a Temperate Forest Using Airborne Hyperspectral Data

Chlorophyll content, as the primary pigment driving photosynthesis, is directly affected by many natural and anthropogenic disturbances and stressors. Accurate and timely estimation of canopy chlorophyll content (CCC) is essential for effective ecosystem monitoring to allow for successful management interventions to occur. Hyperspectral remote sensing offers the possibility to accurately estimate and map canopy chlorophyll content. In the past, research has predominantly focused on the use of hyperspectral data on canopy chlorophyll content retrieval of crops and grassland ecosystems. Therefore, in this study, a temperate mixed forest, the Bavarian Forest National Park in Germany, was chosen as the study site. We compared different statistical models (narrowband vegetation indices (VIs), partial least squares regression (PLSR) and random forest (RF)) in their accuracy to predict CCC using airborne hyperspectral data. The airborne hyperspectral imagery was acquired by the AisaFenix sensor (623 bands; 3.5 nm spectral resolution in the visible near-infrared (VNIR) region, and 12 nm spectral resolution in the shortwave infrared (SWIR) region; 3 m spatial resolution) on July 6, 2017. In situ leaf chlorophyll content and leaf area index measurements were sampled from the upper canopy of coniferous, mixed, and deciduous forest stands in July and August 2017. The study yielded the highest retrieval accuracies with PLSR (root mean square error (RMSE) = 0.25 g/m2, R2 = 0.66). It further indicated specific spectral regions within the visible (390–400 nm and 470–540 nm), red edge (680–780 nm), near-infrared (1050–1100 nm) and shortwave infrared regions (2000–2270 nm) that were important for CCC retrieval. The results showed that forest CCC can be mapped with relatively high accuracies using image spectroscopy.

Retrieval of Leaf Area Index Using Sentinel-2 Imagery in a Mixed Mediterranean Forest Area

Leaf area index (LAI) is a crucial biophysical indicator for assessing and monitoring the structure and functions of forest ecosystems. Improvements in remote sensing instrumental characteristics and the availability of more efficient statistical algorithms, elevate the potential for more accurate models of vegetation biophysical properties including LAI. The aim of this study was to assess the spectral information of Sentinel-2 MSI satellite imagery for the retrieval of LAI over a mixed forest ecosystem located in northwest Greece. Forty-eight field plots were visited for the collection of ground LAI measurements using an ACCUPAR LP-80: PAR &amp; LAI Ceptometer. Spectral bands and spectral indices were used for LAI model development using the Gaussian processes regression (GPR) algorithm. A variable selection procedure was applied to improve the model’s prediction accuracy, and variable importance was investigated for identifying the most informative variables. The model resulting from spectral indices’ variables selection produced the most precise predictions of LAI with a coefficient of determination of 0.854. Shortwave infrared bands and the normalized canopy index (NCI) were identified as the most important features for LAI prediction.

Mapping leaf area index in a mixed temperate forest using Fenix airborne hyperspectral data and Gaussian processes regression

Machine learning algorithms, in particular, kernel-based machine learning methods such as Gaussian processes regression (GPR) have shown to be promising alternatives to traditional empirical methods for retrieving vegetation parameters from remotely sensed data. However, the performance of GPR in predicting forest biophysical parameters has hardly been examined using full-spectrum airborne hyperspectral data. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the potential of GPR to estimate forest leaf area index (LAI) using airborne hyperspectral data. To achieve this, field measurements of LAI were collected in the Bavarian Forest National Park (BFNP), Germany, concurrent with the acquisition of the Fenix airborne hyperspectral images (400−2500 nm) in July 2017. The performance of GPR was further compared with three commonly used empirical methods (i.e., narrowband vegetation indices (VIs), partial least square regression (PLSR), and artificial neural network (ANN)). The cross-validated coefficient of determination (Rcv2) and root mean square error (RMSEcv) between the retrieved and field-measured LAI were used to examine the accuracy of the respective methods. Our results showed that using the entire spectral data (400−2500 nm), GPR yielded the most accurate LAI estimation (Rcv2 = 0.67, RMSEcv = 0.53 m2 m−2) compared to the best performing narrowband VIs SAVI2 (Rcv2 = 0.54, RMSEcv = 0.63 m2 m−2), PLSR (Rcv2 = 0.74, RMSEcv = 0.73 m2 m−2) and ANN (Rcv2 = 0.68, RMSEcv = 0.54 m2 m−2). Consequently, when a spectral subset obtained from the analysis of VIs was used as model input, the predictive accuracies were generally improved (GPR RMSEcv = 0.52 m2 m−2; ANN RMSEcv = 0.55 m2 m−2; PLSR RMSEcv = 0.69 m2 m−2), indicating that extracting the most useful information from vast hyperspectral bands is crucial for improving model performance. In general, there was an agreement between measured and estimated LAI using different approaches (p > 0.05). The generated LAI map for BFNP using GPR and the spectral subset endorsed the LAI spatial distribution across the dominant forest classes (e.g., deciduous stands were generally associated with higher LAI values). The accompanying LAI uncertainty map generated by GPR shows that higher uncertainties were observed mainly in the regions with low LAI values (low vegetation cover) and forest areas which were not well represented in the collected sample plots. This study demonstrated the potential of GPR for estimating LAI in forest stands using airborne hyperspectral data. Owing to its capability to generate accurate predictions and associated uncertainty estimates, GPR is evaluated as a promising candidate for operational retrieval applications of vegetation traits.

Assessment of Cornfield LAI Retrieved from Multi-Source Satellite Data Using Continuous Field LAI Measurements Based on a Wireless Sensor Network

Accurate and continuous monitoring of leaf area index (LAI), a widely-used vegetation structural parameter, is crucial to characterize crop growth conditions and forecast crop yield. Meanwhile, advancements in collecting field LAI measurements have provided strong support for validating remote-sensing-derived LAI. This paper evaluates the performance of LAI retrieval from multi-source, remotely sensed data through comparisons with continuous field LAI measurements. Firstly, field LAI was measured continuously over periods of time in 2018 and 2019 using LAINet, a continuous LAI measurement system deployed using wireless sensor network (WSN) technology, over an agricultural region located at the Heihe watershed at northwestern China. Then, cloud-free images from optical satellite sensors, including Landsat 7 the Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+), Landsat 8 the Operational Land Imager (OLI), and Sentinel-2A/B Multispectral Instrument (MSI), were collected to derive LAI through inversion of the PROSAIL radiation transfer model using a look-up-table (LUT) approach. Finally, field LAI data were used to validate the multi-temporal LAI retrieved from remote-sensing data acquired by different satellite sensors. The results indicate that good accuracy was obtained using different inversion strategies for each sensor, while Green Chlorophyll Index (CIgreen) and a combination of three red-edge bands perform better for Landsat 7/8 and Sentinel-2 LAI inversion, respectively. Furthermore, the estimated LAI has good consistency with in situ measurements at vegetative stage (coefficient of determination R2 = 0.74, and root mean square error RMSE = 0.53 m2 m−2). At the reproductive stage, a significant underestimation was found (R2 = 0.41, and 0.89 m2 m−2 in terms of RMSE). This study suggests that time-series LAI can be retrieved from multi-source satellite data through model inversion, and the LAINet instrument could be used as a low-cost tool to provide continuous field LAI measurements to support LAI retrieval.

Validation and inter-comparison of the FY-3B/MERSI LAI product with GLOBMAP and MYD15A2H

ABSTRACT The leaf area index (LAI) describes the structure of vegetation and is a key variable for Earth system process modelling and eco-hydrological models at regional and global scales. The Medium-Resolution Spectral Imager (MERSI) onboard China’s new generation of polar-orbiting meteorological satellite series FengYun-3 (FY-3) can provide continuous and global observations of the land surface. Therefore, it could be a potential data source for global LAI retrieval. In this study, a LAI product was generated from FY-3B/MERSI data using the GLOBCARBON LAI algorithm. Cross-calibration of the FY-3B/MERSI spectral response function with Land Remote-Sensing Satellite (Landsat) Thematic Mapper (TM), allowed to correct the influence of the spectral response function difference on the inversion results. Field measurements of LAI and scale-converted LAI reference images provided by the ImagineS project were used to validate and inter-compare the FY-3B/MERSI LAI product with two widely used medium-resolution LAI products, GLOBMAP LAI product and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) LAI product (MYD15A2 H). The results demonstrate that FY-3B/MERSI LAI has the lowest uncertainty of the three products. The low uncertainty of FY-3B/MERSI LAI in shrub-grass mixed areas (root mean square error, RMSE = 0.07), in part, by the generally underestimated LAI value. For deciduous broadleaf forest, of the three products tested, FY-3B/MERSI LAI is closest to the LAI obtained from the reference image (coefficient of determination, R 2 = 0.70) and yields the lowest uncertainty (RMSE = 0.81). GLOBMAP (R 2 = 0.58), which uses the same algorithm, and surface cover data as FY-3B/MERSI LAI, significantly overestimates the LAI. This overestimation may partly due to the use of a relatively lower clumping index. MYD15A2H shows a relatively weak correlation with the reference data (R 2 = 0.25) and a higher uncertainty (RMSE = 1.45). For mature crops, all three LAI products display systematic underestimation of LAI. FY-3B/MERSI LAI yields the greatest underestimation (about 50%), followed by GLOBMAP (about 35%) and MYD15A2H (about 15%). Our inter-comparison of the three LAI products demonstrates that all have higher correlation for low LAI values. FY-3B/MERSI shows similar capabilities and quality to those of the MODIS sensor with respect to the top of atmosphere observations. However, different atmospheric correction processes may cause large changes in the input Simple Ratio (SR), which in turn will cause bias when retrieving high LAI values. In addition, the temporal and spatial variation of clumping index was insufficiently considered in FY-3B/MERSI LAI product, further improvement is needed by using timely updated and high spatial resolution clumping index data.

Characterizing the Error and Bias of Remotely Sensed LAI Products: An Example for Tropical and Subtropical Evergreen Forests in South China

Leaf area is a key parameter underpinning ecosystem carbon, water and energy exchanges via photosynthesis, transpiration and absorption of radiation, from local to global scales. Satellite-based Earth Observation (EO) can provide estimates of leaf area index (LAI) with global coverage and high temporal frequency. However, the error and bias contained within these EO products and their variation in time and across spatial resolutions remain poorly understood. Here, we used nearly 8000 in situ measurements of LAI from six forest environments in southern China to evaluate the magnitude, uncertainty, and dynamics of three widely used EO LAI products. The finer spatial resolution GEOV3 PROBA-V 300 m LAI product best estimates the observed LAI from a multi-site dataset (R2 = 0.45, bias = −0.54 m2 m−2, RMSE = 1.21 m2 m−2) and importantly captures canopy dynamics well, including the amplitude and phase. The GEOV2 PROBA-V 1 km LAI product performed the next best (R2 = 0.36, bias = −2.04 m2 m−2, RMSE = 2.32 m2 m−2) followed by MODIS 500 m LAI (R2 = 0.20, bias = −1.47 m2 m−2, RMSE = 2.29 m2 m−2). The MODIS 500 m product did not capture the temporal dynamics observed in situ across southern China. The uncertainties estimated by each of the EO products are substantially smaller (3–5 times) than the observed bias for EO products against in situ measurements. Thus, reported product uncertainties are substantially underestimated and do not fully account for their total uncertainty. Overall, our analysis indicates that both the retrieval algorithm and spatial resolution play an important role in accurately estimating LAI for the dense canopy forests in Southern China. When constraining models of the carbon cycle and other ecosystem processes are run, studies should assume that current EO product LAI uncertainty estimates underestimate their true uncertainty value.

RGB Image-Derived Indicators for Spatial Assessment of the Impact of Broadleaf Weeds on Wheat Biomass

In precision agriculture, the development of proximal imaging systems embedded in autonomous vehicles allows to explore new weed management strategies for site-specific plant application. Accurate monitoring of weeds while controlling wheat growth requires indirect measurements of leaf area index (LAI) and above-ground dry matter biomass (BM) at early growth stages. This article explores the potential of RGB images to assess crop-weed competition in a wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) crop by generating two new indicators, the weed pressure (WP) and the local wheat biomass production (δBMc). The fractional vegetation cover (FVC) of the crop and the weeds was automatically determined from the images with a SVM-RBF classifier, using bag of visual word vectors as inputs. It is based on a new vegetation index called MetaIndex, defined as a vote of six indices widely used in the literature. Beyond a simple map of weed infestation, the map of WP describes the crop-weed competition. The map of δBMc, meanwhile, evaluates the local wheat above-ground biomass production and informs us about a potential stress. It is generated from the wheat FVC because it is highly correlated with LAI (r2 = 0.99) and BM (r2 = 0.93) obtained by destructive methods. By combining these two indicators, we aim at determining whether the origin of the wheat stress is due to weeds or not. This approach opens up new perspectives for the monitoring of weeds and the monitoring of their competition during crop growth with non-destructive and proximal sensing technologies in the early stages of development.

Evaluating the impact of sampling schemes on leaf area index measurements from digital hemispherical photography in Larix principis-rupprechtii forest plots

BackgroundDigital hemispherical photography (DHP) is widely used to estimate the leaf area index (LAI) of forest plots due to its advantages of high efficiency and low cost. A crucial step in the LAI estimation of forest plots via DHP is choosing a sampling scheme. However, various sampling schemes involving DHP have been used for the LAI estimation of forest plots. To date, the impact of sampling schemes on LAI estimation from DHP has not been comprehensively investigated.MethodsIn this study, 13 commonly used sampling schemes which belong to five sampling types (i.e. dispersed, square, cross, transect and circle) were adopted in the LAI estimation of five Larix principis-rupprechtii plots (25 m × 25 m). An additional sampling scheme (with a sample size of 89) was generated on the basis of all the sample points of the 13 sampling schemes. Three typical inversion models and four canopy element clumping index (Ωe) algorithms were involved in the LAI estimation. The impacts of the sampling schemes on four variables, including gap fraction, Ωe, effective plant area index (PAIe) and LAI estimation from DHP were analysed. The LAI estimates obtained with different sampling schemes were then compared with those obtained from litter collection measurements.ResultsLarge differences were observed for all four variable estimates (i.e. gap fraction, Ωe, PAIe and LAI) under different sampling schemes. The differences in impact of sampling schemes on LAI estimation were not obvious for the three inversion models, if the four Ωe algorithms, except for the traditional gap-size analysis algorithm were adopted in the estimation. The accuracy of LAI estimation was not always improved with an increase in sample size. Moreover, results indicated that with the appropriate inversion model, Ωe algorithm and sampling scheme, the maximum estimation error of DHP-estimated LAI at elementary sampling unit can be less than 20%, which is required by the global climate observing system, except in forest plots with extremely large LAI values (~ > 6.0). However, obtaining an LAI from DHP with an estimation error lower than 5% is impossible regardless of which combination of inversion model, Ωe algorithm and sampling scheme is used.ConclusionThe LAI estimation of L. principis-rupprechtii forests from DHP was largely affected by the sampling schemes adopted in the estimation. Thus, the sampling scheme should be seriously considered in the LAI estimation. One square and two transect sampling schemes (with sample sizes ranging from 3 to 9) were recommended to be used to estimate the LAI of L. principis-rupprechtii forests with the smallest mean relative error (MRE). By contrast, three cross and one dispersed sampling schemes were identified to provide LAI estimates with relatively large MREs.

Comparison of Direct and Indirect Determination of Leaf Area Index in Permanent Grassland

Indirect, non-destructive methods to derive biophysical parameters, such as leaf area index (LAI), are of major importance for optimal grassland growth modelling and management. In this study, we compared different methods for the estimation of LAI in permanent grassland including (i) two direct methods, (ii) two indirect optical methods (AccuPAR and LAI-2200C), (iii) a proximal (field spectrometer) and a satellite remote sensing approach using Sentinel-2 (S-2) data, both based on radiative transfer modelling (RTM) of vegetation. To consider the seasonal variability of LAI sufficiently, we performed in situ measurements weekly during the entire growing season of 2018 and 2019. The RTM-based methods showed the lowest root-mean-square error (RMSE) when compared with direct green LAI measurements, which ranged from 1.68 to 7.85. The indirect optical methods resulted in higher RMSE values but in similar high correlation coefficients (r). The comparison between the indirect optical methods showed that the AccuPAR and the LAI-2200C highly correlate with a systematic underestimation of the AccuPAR in the upper range of LAI values. As expected, S-2 and the field spectrometer showed the highest correlation (RMSE: 0.40 and r: 0.95). Generally, we observed a significant influence of the seasonal changes of the canopy structure and morphology on the estimation accuracy.