Bidirectional canopy reflectance and its relationship to vegetation characteristics

Abstract
A relationship between bidirectional canopy reflectance (CR) of a vegetated area and its characteristics (type and growth stage) is demonstrated using four types of vegetation—soybeans, corn, shinnery oak and orchard grass— in various stages of growth. The technique involves expressing the three-dimensional CR surface in terms of spherical harmonics, weighted by appropriate coefficients, and subsequent cluster analysis of these coefficients.