Mapping vegetation using vegetation indices derived from spectral reflectance

Aim: To better understand how the derivation of spectral indices can assist in mapping vegetation Imagery: Landsat Thematic Mapper and NOAA AVHRR data Ordnance Survey data: !:"#$### tiles %&'#$ %&(#$ %)'( and %)(( Files: LAN&%AT*+,#-,./% 0M1$ 2N1LAN&+AVHRR 30/$ %&'# T04$ %&(# T04$ %)'( T04$ %)(( T04 Vegetation mapping is a common application of remotel5 sensed data 6rop and forest inventor5$ 5ield and production forecasting$ and vegetation stress assessment are 7ust some of the wa5s in which satellite imager5 has been used %pectral profiles of vegetation clearl5 show that the pea8 reflectance can be found in the near9infrared wavelengths$ due the internal structure of :green; leaves$ and the greatest absorption in the red wavelengths due to the presence of chloroph5ll 6onse<uentl5 a number of indices for assessing vegetation growth and cover have been based upon a ratio of these two bands An e=cellent discussion of the pros and cons of a variet5 of different vegetation indices has been produced b5 Terrill Ra5 >see http:??www 5ale edu?ceo?&ocumentation?rsvegfa< html@ 4or the Thematic Mapper >TM@ instrument two of the most widel5 used of these vegetation indices can be calculated as such: Ratio Vegetation 0nde= Normalised &ifference Vegetation 0nde= >N&V0@ Spectral Reflectance The most reliable Vegetation 0nde= values are calculated from spectral reflectance values This re<uires an anal5st to radiometricall5 calibrate the spectral radiance values recorded b5 a sensor and convert them to reflectance values Terrill Ra5 e=plains the difference between radiance and reflectance >see bo=@ %pectral radiance can be calculated using the gain and offset values for each band supplied in the leader file for the TM data >part of the metadata@ The &igital Number >&N@ is multiplied b5 the gain value and the offset added to obtain spectral radiance 4ortunatel5$ for most of the vegetation indices$ radiance$ reflectance$ and apparent reflectance can be used interchangibl5 Cnfortunatel5$ the &N include contributions from the atmosphere as well as the land surface of interest and so it is desirable to correct the imager5 for these atmospheric effects The most efficient method is to appl5 a :dar8 pi=el; correction in which the lowest &N value in each waveband is subtracted from ever5 &N value 0t is based on an assumption that in ever5 scene there is li8el5 to be at least one land cover t5pe of e=tremel5 low reflectance that should produce a &N value of Dero in each waveband 0t follows that if the lowest &N in a waveband is above Dero then this must be caused b5 atmospheric effects >such as dust$ water vapour$ oDone@ and as such this :offset; can be subtracted from the &N values in that waveband 0t is noted that atmospheric contamination can be substantial and the contamination is usuall5 greatest at shorter wavelengths such as TM band ! Near90nfrared ? Red >Near90nfrared A Red@ ? >Near90nfrared B Red@ i e TM band - ? TM band . i e >TM band - 9 TM band .@ ? >TM band - B TM band .@

Modified from Image Processing course for ERDAS Imagine I S Ltd 2005

Page 1

What is the difference between radiance and reflectance? Radiance is the variable directly measured by remote sensing instruments. Basically, you can think of radiance as how much light the instrument "sees" from the object being observed. When looking through an atmosphere, some light scattered by the atmosphere will be seen by the instrument and included in the observed radiance of the target. An atmosphere will also absorb light, which will decrease the observed radiance. adiance has units of watt per steradian per s!uare meter. Reflectance is the ratio of the amount of light leaving a target to the amount of light striking the target. "t has no units. "f all of the light leaving the target is intercepted for the measurement of reflectance i.e. at every angle, the result is called "hemispherical reflectance." eflectance #or more specifically hemispherical reflectance$ is a property of the material being observed. adiance, on the other hand, depends on the illumination #both its intensity and direction$, the orientation and position of the target and the path of the light through the atmosphere. With effort, many of the atmospheric effects and the solar illumination can be compensated for in digital remote sensing data. %his yields something which is called "apparent reflectance," and it differs from true reflectance in that shadows and directional effects on reflectance have not been dealt with. &any people refer to this #rather inaccurately$ as "reflectance." 'ource( ay, %. #)**+$ http(,,www.yale.edu,ceo,-ocumentation,rsvegfa!.html Calculating Vegetation Indices Open an 0magine Viewer window and load the file LAN&%AT*+,#-,./% 0M1 The image has not had an5 atmospheric correction or radiometric calibration applied to the data 4or single date studies it is permissible$ and indeed common$ to use raw data 4or comparisons between dates it is wise to use corrected images in order to have a meaningful comparison To calculate the vegetation indices select the 0ndices option from the %pectral 2nhancement section of the 0mage 0nterpreter menu %elect the input image and a new output image$ e g LAN&%AT*+,#-,./%+N&V0 0M1 E5 default the sensor t5pe has been set to Landsat TM and the default inde= is N&V0 E5 default the output image will be calculated as a floating point image An (9bit image will be sufficient to show the variation in the image 6hec8 the :%tretch to unsigned (9bit; option to set this 6lic8 OF to run the program &ispla5 the result when it has completed Now repeat the procedure to calculate a simple vegetation inde= >0R?R@ 6reate a new output image and displa5 the result alongside 5our N&V0 image 6ompare the N&V0 image with the Ordnance %urve5 map tiles and a colour composite image of 5our choice to e=amine the relationship between different land cover t5pes and N&V0 Although an Ordnance %urve5 !:"#8 map does not include specific information on arable and grassland t5pes 5ou should be able to use it to identif5 areas of rough pasture >moorland@ and li8el5 areas of permanent pasture >meadows ad7acent to rivers@ Gou should also identif5 the mi=ture of bare fields and crops in the arable fields in the Earton Moss area to the west of Manchester

Modified from Image Processing course for ERDAS Imagine I S Ltd 2005

Page 2

6reate a table listing the t5pical N&V0 value for each particular land cover t5pe 0nclude woodland$ water bodies$ urban areas and other land cover t5pes in 5our table Land cover type Arable >bare fields@ Arable >crops@ Meadows Moorland Crban areas Hater Hoodland NDVI value(s)

Colour coding the Vegetation Index Image 0t is often easier to interpret a colour image rather than a gre5scale image One wa5 of achieving this is to appl5 a pseudocolour table in which gre5 scale values are mapped to a particular colour T5picall5 a range of values is assigned to one colour and a different range to another colour 0magine allows 5ou to create a 3seudocolour Table To do this 5ou will need to load the image as a pseudolour image using Open$ Raster la5er within the Viewer and selecting the &ispla5 as 3seudocolor option from the Raster Options tab At this stage there is no colour information applied to the image To create a psuedocolor table start the Raster Attribute editor b5 selecting the Attributes option from the Raster menu To set the value # A !## to a dar8 brown colour$ for e=ample$ 5ou would highlight the row values # A !## in the table$ clic8 the colour column and select the Erown colour Gou ma5 find it easier to t5pe the values rather than use the sliders Hhen 5ou have created the colour 5ou should clic8 on the Appl5 button 0f 5ou wanted to appl5 the colour to a range of values 5ou could have clic8ed on the value #$ pressed the %hift 8e5 and clic8ed on the value for the top of the range 6reate a pseudocolour table for the vegetation inde= image for the following ranges: !VI Range # 9 !## !## 9 !," !,' 9 !"# !"! 9 !*" !*' 9 ,## ,## 9 ,"" "seudocolour Erown Mid9Light Erown 3ale Gellow &ar8 1reen Mid 1reen Light 1reen

Hith reference to the map and colour composite image$ consider whether the pseudocolour vegetation inde= image separates different land cover t5pes on the basis of their N&V0 valuesI Note how the urban areas and arable fields stand out Also note the low N&V0 values for the upland areas Csing the table 5ou produced earlier$ 5ou ma5 wish to modif5 the pseudocolour table to produce a more accurate separation of land cover t5pes

Modified from Image Processing course for ERDAS Imagine I S Ltd 2005

Page 3

Applying an !VI to other imagery He have seen how the N&V0 can be a useful tool in assessing vegetation cover and vigour at a fairl5 detailed level The other common application of N&V0 is with data from the Advanced Ver5 High Resolution Radiometer >AVHRR@ This sensor is primaril5 used for meteorological purposes but it can also be used for mapping and monitoring large areas of land and ocean Although the data are far less detailed$ the5 provide more fre<uent coverage and are ver5 much cheaper to obtain than Landsat data Gou have been supplied with a georeferenced$ radiometricall59corrected AVHRR image of 2ngland and Hales$ 2N1LAN&+AVHRR 30/ >360&%F format@$ ac<uired in late April The pi=el siDe has been resampled to a ground resolution of appro=imatel5 # "8m = # "8m 6hannel ! is the red band ># "( 9 # '( microns@ and channel , is the near infrared band ># *, 9 ! ! microns@ Load the colour composite into the viewer and select a band combination of !$,$. for the R1E channels 6ompute the N&V0 as before and appl5 a pseudocolour table to the data >ma8e sure 5ou choose the right sensor t5pe@ Gou might li8e to consider wh5 there is a concentration of high 0nde= values in the south9west peninsula and 3embro8eshireI 4urther$ e=amine the occurrence of high values in the 6heshire 3lain and the Morecambe Ea5 area E5 contrast$ wh5 do areas of north Norfol8 show such low valuesI

Summary 0f 5ou have completed this e=ercise correctl5 5ou should be able to: Cnderstand the concept of vegetation indices &erive vegetation inde= images from different satellite image sensors 6alculate vegetation inde= images using the modelling language 2=plain the relationship between data values in the vegetation inde= image and vegetation state ? t5pes 6reate a pseudocolour table to enhance the information in the vegetation inde= image

Modified from Image Processing course for ERDAS Imagine I S Ltd 2005

Page 4