Spectral reflectance characterisation of different soils of Deccan plateau

Spectral reflectance of different soil subgroups from different soil orders were measured using a field radiometer. The results showed that, on the basis of spectral signatures, different soils can be delineated. The physico-chemical characteristics including moisture content showed a definite bearing on the spectral reflectance. The plant cover, tillage and crop residue content influenced greatly spectral reflectance as compared to bare soil. The spectral reflectance on soil aggregate size showed that reflectance decreased with increase in the aggregate size. The saline and sodic soils also recorded greater spectral reflectance in relation to normal soils.     

Spectral reflectance characteristics of salt-affected arid soils of Rajasthan

The spectral reflectance characteristics of different types of natural and anthropogenic salt-affected soils have been studied under field conditions. The spectral reflectance value for non-saline and all types of salt-affected soils was maximum in near infra red region (800–1000 nm). The natural salt-affected soils having surface salt encrustation showed highest reflectance value followed by the sodic soils (formed due to high residual sodium carbonate water irrigation) natural saline soils and saline soils due to saline water irrigation. Soil texture, pH, CaC0₃ and organic matter together accounted for 29.6% variation in the maximum reflectance percentage value out of which only pH accounted for more than half (14.2% variation).     

Spectral identification of materials by reflectance spectral library search

Spectral library search is emerging as a viable approach for material identification and mapping by reusing spectral knowledge gained from hyperspectral remote sensing across space and time. The potential of retrieving meaningful spectral material identifications in the presence of reflectance of spectra of various material types and with various similarity metrics has been assessed in this study. Test reflectance spectra of various vegetation, minerals, soils and urban material types are identified by searching through the composite reflectance spectral library obtained by combining various institutional reflectance spectral libraries. The accuracy of material identifications under various conditions: (i) in the presence of identical, similar and dissimilar spectra; (ii) in the presence of only identical and dissimilar spectra; and (iii) in the presence of only dissimilar spectra has been assessed with several similarity metrics. Results indicate the possibility of obtaining 100% accurate material identifications by library search if the spectral library contains identical spectra. However, the presence of a large number of similar spectra, despite the presence of identical spectra, is found to increase false positives, thereby reducing the accuracy of retrievals to 82% at best. Further, the accuracy of material identifications in the presence of similar spectra is similarity metric-dependent and varied from about 52% (obtained from Binary Encoding) to 82% (obtained from Normalized Spectral Similarity Score). Overall, results support the possibility of using independent reflectance spectral libraries for material identification while calling for robust spectral similarity metrics.     

Spectral reflectance pattern study of some Indian landuse/landcover features

To utilize the full potential of multispectral data acquired from aerial photographs/satellite imagery increased knowledge of the spectral reflectance characteristics of Landuse/Landcover features are required. Spectro-Radiometer was used to collect the spectral reflectance values in wavelength regions ranging from 0.48 to 0.96 u m, of some Landuse/Landcover features, in Roorkee and its surrounding areas. Spectral reflectance values, thus collected, were used to draw spectral reflectance curves of each feature separately and to determine the optimum wavelength regions for identifying each Landuse/Landcover feature. The wavelength regions, in which two dissimilar Landuse/Landcover features exhibit nearly same tonal variation in B&W aerial photographs/satellite imagery, were also determined from these curves.     

Spectral reflectance characteristics of soils and its correlation with soil properties and surface conditions

In-situ spectral reflectance of soils was measured at various test sites of India in four spectral bands within the visible and near-infrared wavelength comparable to Landsat Multispectral Scanner (MSS). Reflectance behaviour of soils under different field conditions was analysed and the spectral reflectance curves for different soil types were obtained. Soil samples pertaining to each test site were analysed for mechanical composition, physioco-chemical properties to identify their relationship with soil reflectance. These spectral reflectance curves were further examined as to their usefulness in discriminating various soil types. Five distinct soil types namely, Black cotton soils (Typic Pellusterts), Marine Soils (Typic Halaquepts), Lateritic Soils (Plinthic Tropohumults), Alluvial Soils (Typic Ustochrepts), Coastal Sandy Soils (Typic Psammaquents), were discriminated on the basis of significant relationships between the spectral reflectance data and soil properties.     

Spectral reflectance of some typical Indian soils as affected by tillage and cover types

Measuring spectral reflectance of soils in situ which simulates measurements made from aircraft and by satellite scanner system has become an integral part of soil mapping using remote sensing techniques. A preliminary study has been conducted to measure the spectral reflectance of some typical red and black soils of India using a field radiometer (EXOTECH-100-A) and to study the changes in specrtral reflectance patterns due to tillage and crop and non-crop cover, The spectral reflectance were measured in four different pands of electromagnetic spectrum—two in visible (0.5-0.6μ and 0.6-0.7μ) and two in infrared (0.7-0.8μ and 0.8-1.0μ) region. Spectral reflectance curves were drawn from these values which helped in understanding the spectral separability and mixing of various red and black soil types. Black soils having grass cover showed maximum reflectance value followed by ploughed one and bare counterparts whereas, the order of decrease in spectral reflectance of red soils was bare soils> ploughed soil> soils with grass cover.     

Spectral reflectance patterns and seasonal dynamics of common understory types in three mature hemi-boreal forests

Due to the growing demand on more accurate prediction of biophysical properties (e.g., leaf area index) or carbon balance models based on remotely sensed data, the understory effect needs to be separated from the overstory. Reflectance models can provide possibility to model and retrieve understory reflectance over large scales, but ground truth data is needed to validate such models and algorithms. In this study, we documented the seasonal variation (April–September) and spectral changes occurring in understory layers of a typical European hemi-boreal forest. The understory composition was recorded and its spectra measured with an ASD FieldSpec Hand-Held UV/VNIR Spectroradiometer eight times at four site types during the growing period (from May to September) in 2013. The collected dataset presented within this study would be of much use to improve and validate algorithms or models for extracting spectral properties of understory from remote sensing data. It can be also further used as a valuable input in radiative transfer simulations that are used to quantify the roles of forest tree layer and understory components in forming a seasonal reflectance course of a hemi-boreal forest, and the upcoming phases of the RAdiation Model Intercomparison (RAMI) experiment.     

Using in situ hyperspectral reflectance data to distinguish nine aquatic plant species

In situ hyperspectral reflectance data were studied at 50 bands (10 nm bandwidth) over the 400–900 nm spectral range to determine their potential for distinguishing among nine aquatic plant species: American lotus [Nelumbo lutea (Willd.) Pers.], American pondweed (Potamogeton nodusus Poir.), giant duckweed [Spirodela polyrrhiza (L.) Schleid.], Mexican waterlily (Nymphaea mexicana Zucc.), white waterlily (Nymphaea odorata Aiton), spatterdock [Nuphar lutea (L.) Sm.], giant salvinia (Salvinia molesta Mitchell), waterhyacinth [Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.) Solms] and waterlettuce (Pistia stratiotes L.). The species were studied on three dates: 30 May, 1 July and 3 August 2009. All nine species were studied in July and August, while only eight species were studied in May; giant duckweed was not studied in May due to insufficient availability. Two procedures were used to determine the optimum bands for discriminating among species: multiple comparison range tests and stepwise discriminant analysis. Multiple comparison range tests results for May showed that most separations among species occurred at bands 795–865 nm in the near-infrared (NIR) spectral region where up to six species could be distinguished. For July, few species could be distinguished amongthe 50 bands; most separations occurred at the 715 nm red-NIR edge band where four species could be differentiated. The optimum bands in August occurred in the green (525–595 nm), red (605–635 nm) and red-NIR edge (695–705 nm) spectral regions where up to six species could be distinguished. Stepwise discriminant analysis identified 11 bands in the blue, green, red-NIR edge and NIR spectral regions to be significant to discriminate among the eight species in May. For July and August, stepwise discriminant analysis identified 15bands and 13 bands, respectively, from the blue to NIR regions to be significant for discriminating among the nine species.     

Spectral mapping methods applied to LiDAR data: Application to fuel type mapping

Originally developed to classify multispectral and hyperspectral images, spectral mapping methods were used to classify Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data to estimate the vertical structure of vegetation for Fuel Type (FT) mapping. Three spectral mapping methods generated spatially comprehensive FT maps for Cabañeros National Park (Spain): (1) Spectral Mixture Analysis (SMA), (2) Spectral Angle Mapper (SAM), and (3) Multiple Endmember Spectral Mixture Analysis (MESMA). The Vegetation Vertical Profiles (VVPs) describe the vertical distribution of the vegetation and are used to define each FT endmember in a LiDAR signature library. Two different approaches were used to define the endmembers, one based on the field data collected in 1998 and 1999 (Approach 1) and the other on exploring spatial patterns of the singular FT discriminating factors (Approach 2). The overall accuracy is higher for Approach 2 and with best results when considering a five-FT model rather than a seven-FT model. The agreement with field data of 44% for MESMA and SMA and 40% for SAM is higher than the 38% of the official Cabañeros National Park FTs map. The principal spatial patterns for the different FTs were well captured, demonstrating the value of this novel approach using spectral mapping methods applied to LiDAR data. The error sources included the time gap between field data and LiDAR acquisition, the steep topography in parts of the study site, and the low LiDAR point density among others.     

入侵种互花米草的光谱分层分析方法

针对互花米草的爆发式增长对沿海滩涂生物多样性和生态稳定带来了巨大的生态威胁的问题,该文以闽江河口互花米草和其他3种湿地植物的室内叶片高光谱数据为例,探讨互花米草与其伴生植物是否具有光谱可分性。采用一种分层分析方法对实测高光谱数据降维并选择出识别互花米草的最佳波段。首先,利用ANOVA对光谱数据降维,选择出互花米草与其他湿地植物光谱具有显著性差异的波段;其次,使用CART算法对ANOVA降维后具有显著差异的高光谱数据进一步降维,找到识别互花米草潜在的最佳波段;最后,利用J-M距离评估CART选择波段的可分性。结果表明:互花米草与其他3种湿地植物具有光谱可分性,其J-M距离均高于1.9;基于CART算法的入侵种互花米草的识别精度平均达到96.7%,高于传统方法的识别精度。该文成果将为航空或航天高光谱遥感监测互花米草入侵区提供参考。     

Field based spectral reflectance studies to develop NDSI method for snow cover monitoring

Snow is highly reflective in the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum making it possible to easily distinguish on a satellite image. However, cloud cover and mountain shadows pose a serious problem in the identification of snow in a mountainous region. Therefore, to identify snow in such an environment, a Normalized Difference Snow Index (NDSI) has been applied. The NDSI is based on the high reflectance of snow in the visible region and its low reflectance in the SWIR region, whereas, reflectance of cloud remains high compared to snow in the SWIR region. Efforts have been made to carry out field observations on reflectance of various land features near Manali in Himachal Pradesh (HP) to develop NDSI values for identifying snow. Field data have been collected using three field radiometers, viz., Multi-band Ground Truth Radiometer (GTR) operating in the 12 spectral bands ranging from visible to near-infrared wavelengths, Near-Infrared Ground Truth Radiometer (NIGTR) operating in the SWIR range, and Ratio-Radiometer (RR) operating in two spectral bands, one in the visible range, and another band in the SWIR range. All these three field radiometers have been designed and developed indigenously at the Space Applications Centre (ISRO), Ahmedabad. NDSI values for all types of snow, such as, fresh, clear, patchy and wet, have been found to be in the range 0.9 to 0.96. In addition, the NDSI value for snow under mountain shadow is found to be more than 0.9. This suggests the use of NDSI method for snow cover monitoring under mountain shadow. NDSI values for other land features such as soil, vegetation, and rock were substantially different than snow. However, water bodies have NDSI values close to snow and they need to be masked during snow cover delineation using NIR band.     

Spectral characteristics of sensors onboard IRS-1D and P6 satellites: Estimation and their influence on surface reflectance and NDVI

This paper reports the results of a modeling study carried out with two objectives, (1) to estimate and compare effective spectral characteristics (central wavelength, bandwidth and bandpass exo-atmospheric solar irradiance E_o) of various spectral channels of LISS-III, WiFS, LISS-III*, LISS-IV and AWiFS onboard Indian Remote Sensing Satellites IRS-ID and P6 using moment method based on the laboratory measurements of sensor spectral response, and (2) to quantify the influence of varying sensor spectral response on reflectance and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) measurements using surface reflectance spectra corresponding to different leaf area index conditions of crop target obtained through field experiment. Significant deviation of 4 to 14 nm in central wavelength and 1.6 to 14.07 nm in spectral width was observed for the corresponding channel of IRS sensors. Coefficient of variation of the order of 0.1 to 1.11% was noticed in E_o among various IRS sensors, which could induce a difference of 0.72 to 3.35% in the estimation of top of atmosphere reflectance for crop target. The variation in spectral response of IRS sensors implied a relative difference of the order of 0.91 to 3.38% in surface reflectance and NDVI measurements. Polynomial approximations are also provided for spectral correction that can be utilized for normalizing the artifacts introduced due to differences in spectral characteristics among IRS sensors.     

Sensitivity of narrowband vegetation indices to boreal forest LAI,reflectance seasonality and species composition

There is growing evidence that imaging spectroscopy could improve the accuracy of satellite-based retrievals of vegetation attributes, such as leaf area index (LAI) and biomass. In this study, we evaluated narrowband vegetation indices (VIs) for estimating overstory effective LAI (LAI_eff) in a southern boreal forest area for the period between the end of snowmelt and maximum LAI using three Hyperion images and concurrent field measurements. We compared the performance of narrowband VIs with two SPOT HRVIR images, which closely corresponded to the imaging dates of the Hyperion data, and with synthetic broadband VIs computed from Hyperion images. According to the results, narrowband VIs based on near infrared (NIR) bands, and NIR and shortwave infrared (SWIR) bands showed the strongest linear relationships with LAI_eff over its typical range of variation and for the studied period of the snow-free season. The relationships were not dependent on dominant tree species (coniferous vs. broadleaved), which is an advantage in heterogeneous boreal forest landscapes. The best VIs, particularly those based on NIR spectral bands close to the 1200 nm liquid water absorption feature, provided a clear improvement over the best broadband VIs.     

地物光谱反射率测量与行星反射率计算联合教学设计与实践

地球表面物体反射特性是遥感科学研究和教学的重要组成部分,本文立足于地物自身的反射特性,从野外光谱反射率测量和卫星遥感数据行星反射率计算两方面,提出星地一体的地物反射特性联合教学模式,为开展遥感类实践教学提供一定的参考和借鉴.实践证明,该教学模式不仅可以使学生更容易理解和掌握地物和行星反射率的基本概念,而且能够进一步加深...     

Spectral resampling based on user-defined inter-band correlation filter: C3 and C4 grass species classification

In this paper, a user-defined inter-band correlation filter function was used to resample hyperspectral data and thereby mitigate the problem of multicollinearity in classification analysis. The proposed resampling technique convolves the spectral dependence information between a chosen band-centre and its shorter and longer wavelength neighbours. Weighting threshold of inter-band correlation (WTC, Pearson's r) was calculated, whereby r = 1 at the band-centre. Various WTC (r = 0.99, r = 0.95 and r = 0.90) were assessed, and bands with coefficients beyond a chosen threshold were assigned r = 0. The resultant data were used in the random forest analysis to classify in situ C₃ and C₄ grass canopy reflectance. The respective WTC datasets yielded improved classification accuracies (kappa = 0.82, 0.79 and 0.76) with less correlated wavebands when compared to resampled Hyperion bands (kappa = 0.76). Overall, the results obtained from this study suggested that resampling of hyperspectral data should account for the spectral dependence information to improve overall classification accuracy as well as reducing the problem of multicollinearity.     

Hyperspectral reflectance of leaves and flowers of an outbreak species discriminates season and successional stage of vegetation

Spectral reflectance can be used to assess large-scale performances of plants in the field based on plant nutrient balance as well as composition of defence compounds. However, plant chemical composition is known to vary with season – due to its phenology – and it may even depend on the succession stage of its habitat. Here we investigate (i) how spectral reflectance could be used to discriminate successional and phenological stages of Jacobaea vulgaris in both leaf and flower organs and (ii) if chemical content estimation by reflectance is flower or leaf dependent.We used J. vulgaris, which is a natural outbreak plant species on abandoned arable fields in north-western Europe and studied this species in a chronosequence representing successional development during time since abandonment. The chemical content and reflectance between 400 and 2500 nm wavelengths of flowers and leaves were measured throughout the season in fields of different successional ages. The data were analyzed with multivariate statistics for temporal discrimination and estimation of chemical contents in both leaf and flower organs.Two main effects were revealed by spectral reflectance measurements: (i) both flower and leaf spectra show successional and seasonal changes, but the pattern is complex and organ specific (ii) flower head pyrrolizidine alkaloids, which are involved in plant defence against herbivores, can be detected through hyperspectral reflectance.We conclude that spectral reflectance of both leaves and flowers can provide information on plant performance during season and successional stages. As a result, remote sensing studies of plant performance in complex field situations will benefit from considering hyperspectral reflectance of different plant organs. This approach may enable more detailed studies on the link between spectral information and plant defence dynamics both aboveground and belowground.     

Spectral studies of lunar equivalent rocks — A prelude to lunar mineral mapping

Hyperspectral remote sensing technique is widely applied for geological studies including the study of extra-terrestrial rocks. Since it has many spectral bands, discrimination between rocks and minerals can be done more precisely. To perform chemical and mineralogical mapping and to study the rocks on the lunar surface, India has proposed to launch its first lunar remote sensing satellite Chandrayaan-1 in the year 2008. For mineralogical mapping, the mission will carry a Hyperspectral Imager (HySI) instrument, which operates in the VNIR region. This paper presents-an attempt to study the spectral response of lunar-akin terrestrial rocks, in the VNIR region (as in the case of the proposed HySI on-board Chandrayaan-1). For this purpose, rocks similar to those present on the lunar surface were collected and their spectral response in the 64 simulated bands of HySI sensor were studied using a spectro-radiometer. Petrographic studies and modal analysis were carried out using thin sections of the rock samples. On studying the spectral response of the lunar-like rock samples in the 64 HySI bands, it is seen that there are distinct absorption features in bands 58 (923.75nm-927.5nm) and 63 (942.5nm-946.25nm) of the NIR wavelength ranges, for basalt rocks; distinct reflectance features in band 20 (590nm to 600nm) for ganmbbro: distinct reflectance features in band 19 (580nm to 590nm) and absorption in band 18 (570-580nm) for gabbroic anorthosite and distinct reflection features in band 63 (942.5nm to 946.25nm) for anorthosite. Thus, this study demonstrates the possibility of identifying the minerals and rocks on lunar surface using the hyperspectral approach and the spectral signatures of lunar-like rocks present on Earth.     

基于相关系数匹配的混合像元分解算法

遥感影像中的混合像元不仅影响地物识别和分类的精度,而且已成为遥感科学向定量化发展的主要障碍.为此,人们已经提出了多种混合像元分解算法,其中应用最为广泛的是最小二乘法.该方法虽然具有意义明确、简单易行等特点,但也易受局部噪声、大气效应、环境辐射等因素的影响.本文将混合像元分解问题归结为一个基于光谱匹配的非线性最优化问题,并针对最小二乘法的不足提出了一种新的基于相关系数匹配(spectral correlation matching, SCM)的混合像元分解技术.通过在北京市北三环及其以北区域内案例的研究表明:在城市区域内,利用图像选取终端端元的办法,基于相关系数匹配的混合像元分解算法的总体精度高于带全约束的最小二乘法(LS)的分解结果.对比分析表明:在目标光谱的绝对值整体放大或缩小而光谱形状得到了很好的保持、及局部噪声使得光谱值显著变化但光谱形状得到了一定程度保持时,基于光谱形状的相关系数法可以得到比基于光谱绝对值的最小二乘法精度更高的分解结果.     

基于回波强度和采样点距离的点云滤波研究

本文根据三维激光扫描的特点,设计提出一种从点云数据中分离出目标对象的特征提取方法。首先根据激光回波信号特征和采样点距离特征进行阈值确定,然后通过将回波信号强度和距离信号位于各自阈值范围之外的对象滤除,从而得到滤波后的目标物体点云数据集。应用上述方法对室外建筑物数据进行试验,得到较好的效果,表明该方法适用于部分目标对象的初步分离。     

光谱快速预选筛分算法研究

利用一组标准正交化的参考向量得到一个可能匹配区域,排除了绝大部分不可能匹配的样本,从而大大提高光谱预选筛分的速度;同时介绍了一种平衡速度与精度的编码替代算法。实验证明:压缩影像的目视效果较好,未产生边缘模糊及条带现象;采用自动目标生成方法(ATGP)从样本集中提取端元并进行光谱角度制图,其效果令人满意。