Correlating Leaf Area

Index (LAI) with

Vegetation Indices
Tennie Renkens
Student Airborne Research Program
Summer 2010
 Overview
•  Remote sensing data was taken on two DC-8
research flights on June 29th and July 1st
•  Ground-based measurements were taken of
pistachio and almond orchards in Lost Hills,
California on June 29th and July 1st
•  A few goals of this field study:
•  Use field measurements to validate MASTER data
•  Utilize LAI measurements to produce more accurate
predictions of evapotranspiration
 Vegetation Indices
  NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index)= (SWIR-NIR)/(SWIR+NIR)

  SR (Simple Ratio)= SWIR/NIR

  SAVI (Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index)= (SWIR - NIR)(1+L)/ (SWIR + NIR

+L)
where L=correction factor of 0.5

  NLI (Non-linear Vegetation Index)= (SWIR2 + NIR)/ (SWIR2 – NIR)

  RDVI (Re-normalized Difference Vegetation Index)=

(SWIR – NIR)/ (SWIR + NIR )1/2
SWIR= shortwave infrared band
NIR= near infrared band

Note: Using SWIR and NIR (rather than NIR and IR) resulted in optimal correlations*
*Gong et al. 2003
 Instrumentation and Techniques
MASTER (MODIS/ASTER): Moderate Resolution Imaging
Spectroradiometer/Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and
Reflection Radiometer

Hemispherical Photography (Fisheye

photography): technique that estimates
solar radiation and canopy geometry
 Flight Overview

Close up of study site in Lost Hills, CA

Flight path on June 29th, 2010

Red dots represent the

actual locations of
almond and pistachio
trees
 Calculating LAI with HemiView
  Fisheye photos were selected based on
the tree position the photo was taken
  There were two teams in the field
  Team 1 took photos at positions 1, 2,
3, 7, 8, and 9
  Team 2 took photos at positions 1, 4,
7, 3, 6, and 9 istockphoto_5683523‑cartoon‑tre

  Photos 2, 4, 6, and 8 were analyzed using HemiView according to the

procedure outlined in the field protocol

  Three threshold values were used to calculate three LAI values per photo
which were then average to obtain an LAI value for that photo

  The four LAI values from photos 2, 4, 6, and 8 were averaged to obtain an
LAI value for that tree

  228 photos (or 54 trees) were analyzed in total

Correlating LAI with Vegetation Indices (VIs)

  Using ENVI, vegetation

indices (NDVI, SR,
SAVI, NLI, and RDVI) Table 1. Regression analysis of vegetation indices
were calculated for
each tree

  These VI values were

plotted against the LAI
values for each tree

  The results are

summarized in Table 1
 LAI Map
 A LAI map was created by
applying the most correlated
regression equation to a
georeferenced MASTER image
  Based on Table 1, this was
SR for SWIR= 1606 nm, NIR=
806 nm
 Summary
  LAI values were calculated for 54 almond or
pistachio trees
  LAI values were correlated against 7 different
vegetation indices at different bands
  Simple ratio index resulted in the optimal
correlation with LAI
  The best regression equation was extrapolated
over the entire MASTER image to create an LAI
map
Special thanks to…
NASA Student Airborne Research Program
NSERC
CSTARS, UC Davis
Shawn Kefauver
Dr. Susan Ustin
Questions?