Estimating leaf area index from satellite data

A method for estimating leaf area index from visible and near infrared measurements of vegetation above a soil background is applied to a Landsat Thematic Mapper data set. Some constants required for the procedure are inferred from the scattergram of data values. The resulting image illustrates variability of leaf area index over an agricultural area. The mixed-pixel case, corresponding to low-resolution data from the NOAA Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) is also discussed, and a vegetation index is suggested for both high- and low-resolution data. Consideration of the two types of data leads to the suggestion that a sampled high spatial resolution sensor (50-100 m) be added to the AVHRR in order to permit accurate inference of vegetation conditions over agricultural areas