THE EFFECT OF SOIL ANISOTROPY ON THE RADIANCE FIELD EMERGING FROM VEGETATION CANOPIES

The solution of the radiation transfer equation in a vegetation canopy requires the specification of appropriate boundary conditions, especi ally at the interface between the vegetation layer and the soil. This short paper documents the effect of soil brightness and anisotropy on the field of radiances emerging at the top of the vegetation canopy in the solar domain. The study is based on the analysis of the sensitivi ty of an advanced radiation transfer model. It is shown that the scatt ering properties of the soil must be carefully assigned to ensure a co rrect interpretation of data collected over optically thin vegetation canopies.