Area between Peaks Feature in the Derivative Reflectance Curve as a Sensitive Indicator of Change in Chlorophyll Concentration

Vegetation spectral features can detect chlorophyll concentrations. Two key spectral features evident in the first derivative (FD) of reflectance constitute the two main peaks: one located around 685-705 nm and the other near 710-725 nm. We propose that the area between peaks (ABP) can be used as a sensitive indicator of changes in the photosynthetic pigments at leaf level and demonstrate it using a high-spectral-resolution dataset of maize leaves collected by Gitelson and coworkers (2005). We find significant high positive correlations (r ² > 0.90) between chlorophyll concentrations and both the ABP and its continuum length feature.