Estimating canopy chlorophyll concentration from field and airborne spectra

This article investigates the effects of bark soil contamination and nitrog en application on the red edge-chlorophyll concentration relationship for a vegetation canopy. Field based canopy reflectance and chlorophyll concentr ation data were collected at a grassland field site affected by soil contam ination and a winter wheat field; site affected by different levels of nitr ogen fertilisation. The correlation between;een red edge position (REP) and canopy chlorophyll concentration tc;as r=0.84 and 0.80 for the grassland a nd winter;inter wheat; field sites, respectively. Ai rborne imaging spectro metry tc;ns used to generate REP images (units, nm) of the grassland and wi nter wheat;heat field sites. Strong correlations were;ere observed between REP and canopy chlorophyll concentration at both field sites. Predictive re gression equations were developed to map canopy chlorophyll concentration a cross the field sites. The mts error of estimated chlorophyll concentration . was 0.42 ing g(-1) (+/-12.69% of mean) and 2.09 mg g(-1)(16.4% of mean) a t the grassland and winter; wheat field sites respectively. Results demonst rated the use of remotely sensed estimates of the REP from both field and a irborne spectrometers for estimating chlorophyll concentration and indicate d the potential of this technique for inferring both land contamination and grain yield. (C) Elsevier Science Inc., 1999.