Decomposition of volume scattering, polarized light and chlorophyll fluorescence by in-situ polarization measurement

The remotely sensed radiation of green vegetation canopy over the spectral region of 350-2500 nm typically mixes with three components of different optical properties, namely the leaf interior volume scattering, canopy surface polarized light and leaf internal emitted chlorophyll fluorescence (ChlF). They are tightly superimposed together but convey different information of vegetation. This study emphasizes the distinction of the three radiant fluxes above and disentangles them from the observed apparent radiance of Scindapsus aureus canopy by in-situ polarization measurements. Results demonstrate that the polarization measurement enables the quantitatively separation of the volume scattering, polarized light and ChlF. This study provides further understanding of light scattering properties of the vegetation canopy and particularly has the potential of allowing improvements of current reflectance-based vegetation models.