Fisevien Use of a Green Channel in Remote Sensing of Global Vegetation from EOS-MODIS Anatoly A. Gitelson, Yoram J. Kaufman,’ and Mark N. Most aninats use a “aren” spectral ronge to remotely sense the presence and citality of cegetation. While hu mans possess the same ability in their eyes, man-made space-horne sensors that sense evolution of global veaeta- tion, hace so far used a combination of the red and near infrared channels instead. In this article we challenge this approach, using measurements of reflectance spectra from 400 nm to 750 nm with spectral resolution of 2 nm, with simultaneous determination of pigment concentra: tions of mature and autumn senescing leaces. We show that, for @ wide range of leaf greenness, the maximum sensitivity of reflectance coincides with the red absorption ‘maximum of chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) at 670 nm. However, for yellow-zreen to green leaves (with Chia more than 3-5 ue/cm*), the reflectance near 670 nm is not sensitive to chlorophyll concentration because of saturation of the relationship of absorptions versus chlorophyll concentra tion, Maximum sensitiity of Chl-a concentration for a wide range of its variation (0.345 g/cm) was found, not surprisinaly so, around the green band from 520 nm to 630 nm and also near 700 nm. We found that the inverse of the reflectance in the green band was propor- tional to Chl-a concentration with correlation r= > 0.95. This band will be present on several future satelite sen- sors with a global view of vegetation (SeaWiFS to be Iaunched in 1996, Polder on ADEOS-1 also in 1996, and MODIS on EOS in 1998 and 2000). New indexes that use the green channel and are resistant to atmospheric cflects are developed. & green NDVI = (Pue~ Pew) (ax + Powe) tas tested for a range of Chia from 0.3 He. em? to 45 ug/em’, and found to have an error in the J. Blaustein Institute for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion Univer sity of the Nowes, Sede-Boker Campus, Iral NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland Department of Cell Plasilogy and Imainology, Faculty of Blologs Moscow Sate Unversity, Moscow, Russia Adress correspondence to Anatoly A. Giteson, J. Blastin Inst. Desert Research, Ben-Curion Univ. of the Neges, Sie Boker mp, 54993 fra Received § September 1995 reised 23 March 1996, REMOTE SENS. ENVIRON. 58:259-208 (1406), lever Science Ine, 1096 (655 Avenue a the America, New York, NY 10010 Merzlyak* chlorophyll a derivation at leaf level of less than 3 u2,/ cem®, The new index has wider dynamic range than the NDVI and is, on average, at least five times more sensitive to Chika concentration. A green atmospherically resistant cegetation index (GARD. tailored on the concept of ARVI (Kaufman and Tanré, 1992), is developed and is expected to be as resistant to atmospheric effects as ARVI but more sensitice to a wide range of Chl-a concentrations While NDVI and ARVLare sensitive to vegetation fraction ‘and to rate of absorption of photosynthetic solar radia tion, a green cegetation index like GARI should be added to sense the concentration of chlorophyll, to measure the rate of photosynthesis and to monitor plant stress. © Elsevier Science Inc., 1996 INTRODUCTION The normalized difference vegetation index (NDV1) is inges in vegetation state. It uses the normalized difference between the near- infrared (NIR) and red channels, ignoring millions of years of experience by our ancestors on this planet to sense vegetation state with a very high precision using a variety of the “green” channel. NDVI was originally used as a measure of green biomass (Tucker, 1979). It got a solid theoretical basis as a measure of the solar photoyynthetically active radiation absorbed by the ean- opy (Sellers, 1985: 1987). Its application is limited, though. by a complexity of interacting factors involved in the formation of the reflectance response (see, for review, Andeiew and Baret, 1993; Baret and Guyot, 1991; Curran et al., 1991; Horler et al, 1983; Huete et al, 1994). Not enough is yet understood about the peculiarities, specific features, and optical properties of a leaf (ex, Horler et al., 1983; Fukshansky, 1981; Vogelman and Bjorn, 1986). The NDVI involves relating, the reflectance in the red range (near 675 nm) and NIR to vegetation variables such as leaf area index, canopy cover, and the concentration of the total chlorophyll widely used to estimate « 04-42 Pu 0034-425; 96/$15.00 6002-7290 Gitelwm et al. Vegetation has a low level of reflectance in this spectral region and the relationship of NDVI vs. chlorophyll (Chi) saturates for very low Chl concentration (higher than 8 4g/cm* for intact bean leaves (Buschmann and Nagel, 1993), 3-5 am/em? for maple and chestnut leaves (Gitelson and Merzlyak, 1994 a,b), and even less than 2 n/em* for sugar maple leaves (Vogelmann et al., 1993). Therefore, NDVI is sensitive to low chlorophyll concentrations, to the fraction of vegetation cover and. as a result, to the absorbed photosynthetically active solar radiation (Yoder and Waring, 1994). But it is not sensitive at higher chlorophyll concentrations or to rate of photosynthesis for large vegetation coverage ‘Thomas and Gaussman (1977) have found a better correlation between the reflectance at 350 nm and the chlorophyll concentration than that using the reflec- tance at 675 nm, Tanner and Eller (1986) demonstrated 4&4 monotonous (nonsaturated) relation between absorp- tion at 550 nm and chlorophyll concentration for Euro- pean beach leaves. Buschmann and Nagel (1998), for intact bean leaves, and Gitelson and Meralyak (1994 a,b) for maple and chestnutleaves, found that the reflectance over a wide range near 550 nm is more sensitive to Chl concentration that that in the main absorption bands of photosynthetic pigments, including 675 nm, Moss and Rock (1991) had shown that ratio Prsczu/Puis-as was excellent for assessing chlorophyll in red spruce. Vozel- ‘mann etal, (1993) demonstrated this ratio to be appl ble for total chlorophyll determination in sugar maple, Baret et al. (1992) suggested using three red edge do- ‘mains (705-715 nm, 732-737 nm, and 772-780 nm) to evaluate the red edge inflection point shift from space “observations. Carter (1993; 1994) found that reflectance ‘was most sensitive to plant stress in the 535-640 nm and {655-700 nm wavelength ranges. Gitelson and Merzlyak (1994 a,b; 1996) have observed high sensitivity of reflec- tance both in the green and red (near 700 nm) regions to chlorophyll concentrations and have found that the relationships between Chl-a and pss, as well as piu, are hyperbolic with high degree of accuracy. They used these relations and the observed very low sensitivity of NIR reflectance to chlorophyll level to construct the vegetation indexes Prso/ sm and prin! Pro. Those were found to be directly proportional to Chl concentrati It allows to achieve an error in total Chl estimation at leaf level of less than 1.3 g//cm*. These algorithms are based on the specific spectral features of absorption of the pigments, and, therefore, it was believed by: the authors that these algorithms should be applicable to the estimation of the photosynthetic pigments of all higher plants. Independently, Yoder and Waring (1994) also used the green channel (500-600 nm or 565-575 rim in a vegetation index and found a better correlation (F=0,83) with photosynthetic activity of miniature Douglas-fir trees than with a “red” channel In order to develop a vegetation index that is suit- able for application to space observations, it is necessary to combine these new vegetation bands with spectral bands used to decrease the effect of atmospheric scatter ing on remote sensing of vegetation. Kaufman and Tanré (1992) first suggested the use of a“blue” band to develop ‘an atmospherically resistant vegetation index (ARVD), where the strong atmospheric effect in the blue channel would correct the vegetation index for the atmospheric effect. Huete et al. (1994) and Huete and Liu (1994) ‘combined this concept with the need to make vegetation indexes that are less sensitive to effects of spectral properties of soil (Huete, 1988) ‘The first objective of this study is to investigate in more detail the specific spectral features of both mature and senescing leaves, covering a wide range of pigment concentration in order to find a wide spectral range where reflectance is masimum sensitive to pigment concentration. Specific wavelengths sensitive to pig ment variation are ascertained and the algorithms for Chl assessment at leaf level are developed using the reflectances in the MODIS channels near 550 nm, and channels in the near infra-red region. The algorithms are tested by independent data sets for @ range of Chl-a from 0.3 ng/em® to 45 g/cm? and an estimation error ‘of Chi-a concentration of less than 3 x / em*is achieved, ‘The second objective is to create vegetation indexes minimally sensitive to atmospheric effects, while stil sensitive to a wide range of Chha concentrations. Leaf reflectance below 500 nm and at 670 nm were found to be highly correlated over a wide range of leaf green- ness (in yellow-green to dark green leaves). This effect is used here, as in the case of ARVI, in a self correction process for the atmospheric effect on the green channel, using the difference in the radiance between the blue and the red channels, MATERIALS AND METHODS The experiments were performed in October 1991 and 1993 on horse chestnut leaves (Aesculus hippocastanum L.), and in October 1992-1993 on Norway maple leaves (Acer platanoides L.). Leaves of both trees were col- lected in the Botanical Garden of the Moscow State University, as described previously (Gitelson and Mer- alyak, 19944; Meralyak and Gitelson, 1995). In addition to the senescing samples, the mature green leaves of both species collected in July of 1994 were examined Gitelson and Merzlyak, 1996). The sampling scheme was intended to cover as high a variation of pigment concentrations as possible. Only leaves having homoge- neous dark green, green, green-yellow, yellow-green, and yellow color without anthocyanin pigmentation were selected. Hemispherical reflectance spectra were recorded. for the upper surface of the leaves with a Hitachi 150- 20 spectrophotometer, equipped with an integratingsphere attachment at the rate of 100 nm/min, The spectra were determined for the sections of the leaves between main veins (maple) or with a removed main vein (chestnut). The reflectance spectra were measured with spectral resolution of 2 nm against barium sulfate as a reference standard with a light trap to eliminate the specular reflected component of the radiance, and black velvet was used as a background in order to absorb the light passing through the leaf (Gitelson and Merzlyak, 1994a). Reflectance was expressed as a ratio of the radiance of the leaf to that of the standard Chl, -h, and total carotenoid (Car) concentrations in the leaves were determined in acetone extracts and calculated using equations and specific extinction co- efficients as reported by Lichtenthaler (1987) ‘The radiances in the channels of EOS-MODIS were simulated by integrating the reflectance spectra ob- tained by a spectrophotometer, over the ranges corre- sponding to channels of MODIS—blue 460-450 nm: sven 530-570 nm; red 650-690 nm. To cal Vegetation indexes, we used the reflectance at to simulate the reflectance MODIS channel at 860 nm, Yoder and Waring (1994) showed that the reflectance in the NIB is not sensitive to the chlorophyll concentra- tion, but is sensitive to the leaf area index (LAI). As a result we do not expect that the use of 750 nm rather than $60 nm will make a difference in the dependence of the vegetation indices caleulated for the reflectance spectra of the single leaves on the chlorophyll concentra- tion. The atmospheric effects were simulated for four 6S models: no aerosol, continental aerosol with a visibil- ity of 25 km (average) and 5 km (very hazy), and mari- time with a visibility 25 km, ‘The original, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) is defined by NDVI = (Loin ~ Eres) (Lin + Les) ay where Lain and Luu are the radiances of reflected sun- light from the surface as observed from space in the NIR and red channels, respectively. Scattering in the atmosphere by aerosol particles and molecules increases substantially the reflectance in the red channel, thus decreasing the vegetation index (Holben, 1986). In the NIR the atmospheric effect is significantly smaller due to the partial cancellation of an inerease in the surface reflectance due to aerosol scattering and a decrease in the reflectance due to aerosol absorption, so that for reflectance at 0.2-0.4 range the net effect is very small (Fraser and Kaufman, 1985). As a result the atmospheri- cally resistant vegetation indices aim to correct m the effect of the atmosphere on the red channel. Since ARVI is the basis for the development of the new index, ‘we shall review its mathematical basis here. To define ARVI, Kaufman and Tanré (1992) replaced Lain and Ines with radiances expressed in reflectance units, 2: Use of a Green Channel in Remote Sensing 291 pe = nL! Fite. e where Fo is the extraterrestrial solar flux, 4 cosine of the solar zenith angle, and i stands for the red or NIR channels. These reflectances were then corrected for the molecular effects (seattering and absorption} (Pi ~ Pa)!T 8) where pu is the reflectance of sunlight by the atmo- spheric molecular scattering and T. is the transmission of light through an aerosol free atmosphere. The self correction for the aerosol effect is introduced by replac- ing the red reflectance pqs with Pree = Pov WP's forming ARVI, ARV = (p'.n— fi) [(D'su+ Be). 6) where 7 is an empirical parameter that was shown to be optimized for y=1. We shall use this concept to introduce the atmospheric resistant green vegetation index (GARD, Psd cy) RESULTS Pigment Content in the Leaves pigment was Chl-a that ranged from 0.3 to 44.5 az/ em? in maple leaves and from 0.5 ux./em? to 42-4 ag /em? in chestnut leaves, The green leaves collected both in summer and autumn (Chl a+5>20 us! em*) contained approximately equal pro- portions of pigments (Chl-a, -b, and carotenoids). Al- though the leaves of both species lost Chla and -b during the progression of autumn senescence, relatively high concentrations of carotenoids were present (sce also Gitelson and Merzlyak, 1994a; Merzlyak and Gitel- son, 1995), Only trace amounts of chlorophylls were detected in completely yellow leaves, Reflectance Spectral Changes in the Leaves ‘The representative reflectance spectra of the leaves which changed color from dark green to completely yellow contained decreasing amounts of Chl-a (Fig. 1). The reflectance speetral features were found to be simi- lar to both species studied. Although the spectra ob- tained with A. platanoides leaves will be considered later, the results were found to be very close to those obtained in the experiments with A. hippocastanum leaves Maximum reflectance (about 40-45%) was found at 750 nm and was essentially independent of pigment concentration and the stage of leaf senescence. The lowest reflectance was observed in the blue range of the spectrum from 400 nm to 500 nm, Three carotenoid, absorption bands were clearly seen when the back- ground of the Chl was extremely low (Chl-a=0.3 ug/ ). Even avery small increase in Cha and -b concen-Gitelson et al ‘Warelength, nm Figure 1. "The representative reflec: e spectra of maple leaves con ining different concentrations of pig- 's. Chlorophyll a concentrations 1g cm? are indicated, trations from 0.3 ug/em* to 1 mg/cm? induced a signifi- cant decrease in reflectance and shifted the “green edge” at the reflectance spectra toward the longer wave- lengths. An increase in pigment concentration from 3 uag/em® to more than 40 4/em* did not lead to any variation in the reflectance in this spectral range. An inerease in reflectance occurred near 500 nm. for all leaves studied. For a completely yellow: leaf (Chla=0.3 wg/cm*), @ wide plateau up to 750 nm followed this increase, In the leaves with Chha>3 jz / em’, the prominent maximum of reflectance occurred in the green range of the spectrum, In yellow-green Jeaves, this peak was wide and reached 30-40%, while for green-yellow to green leaves (Cha >3 sagem), it became narrow and was of decreased magnitude. A decrease in reflectance followed by “ireen” peak In yellow-green to green leaves (Chl-a>3.6 ug em?) the reflectance near 670 nm (ie., the red maximum of hla absorption) was low and remained virtually the same when Chi-a inereased. Only when the Chia con: centration fell to a level of less than 3 sag /em*, a conse: cerable inerease in reflectance was observed. A minimum near 670 nm was followed by a sharp increase in reflectance toward longer wavelengths. The slope of the reflectance increase (the “red edge”) fluctu- ated widely. decreasing when the Cha concentration increased. To find spectral bands with maximum sensitivity to variation in pigment concentrations, the coefficient of variation of the reflectance (determined as ratio of stan dard deviation of the reflectance to average reflectance value) was studied (Fig. 2). The coefficient of variation was calculated for different groups of leaves. The fist group contained leaves with a Chka concentration from 0.3 (the minimum concentration found in our experi- ments) to 44.8 ug/em® (the maximum concentration, ‘The second group included leaves with Chka from 1.1 gicm? to 44.8 yg/em*. In the third group, the mini mum Chl-a concentration was 3.6 uglem?, In other we *waneengt, wm Figure 2. The coctlicient of variation of reflectance for groups of maple leaves selected from 25 samples. The groups had different minimal chloro- phsll @ concentrations indicated in the figure in ug¢/em#. Maximum Chl-a con centration was 44.8 4g for all lea groups. The bist group contained Teaves with a Chia concentration from 03 ug/em® (the minimum eoncentex tion found in our experiments) to 44.8 sug. cm: (the maximum concentration) The second group included leaves with Chlea from 1.1 to 44.8 we! em*, In the third group, the minimum Chl-a con- centr Therefore the grou iim Chha concentrations, while the max ‘mum concentration remained the words, the groups had different minimum Chl-a concen- trations, while the maximum concentration remained the same. The first group of leaves can be considered to represent a wide-ranging process of senescence or stress, when the color of the leaves turns from com pletely yellow to dark green, The following groups, in ‘order, corresponded to different stages of senescence (or/and stress). This range ended with leaves in the very early stages of stress and senescence, when they were still green, but the suppression of biosynthesis and /or increased degradation of green pigments already begun The obtained coefficient of variation spectra showed several notable features. The spectra indicated different spectral behavior for groups of leaves containing “yellow to green” leaves (with minimum Chl-a = 0.3 g/cm!) as compared to “yellow-green to green” (with minimum Chi-a>3.6 g/cm’) leaves. For the group of “yellow to green” leaves, several minima due to variation in absorption of pigments near 425 nm, 450 nm, and 490 znm, 520 nm, and 670 nm were found (Fig. 2). In leaves with 44.8>Chl-a>1 g/em?, the spectral behavior of the coefficient was different. In the blue range, the coefficient decreased two- to threefold, and spectral features were not detected. In the green and the redFigure 3. The reflectance in MODIS spectral bands versus Chla concentrar tions for maple and chestnut leaves. 4 hyperbolic fit relationship between Chika and payer was best. The correla mn coefficient r for the equation Chie a= -7.2+4.01*(Rewon)”! was more than 0.95, ranges the coefficient of variation decreased and the maximum near 670 nm now became a small minimum. For yellow-green to green leaves (iminimum Chl- @>3 yglem’), the broad maximum between 580- nm and 690 nm was transformed to a narrow gap centered at 670 nm. Two spectral bands occurred where variation of reflectance was found to be much higher than at 670 rm: one, quite wide near 600 nm and the other, narrow, near 700 nm, Inerease in minimum Chl concentration in the groups of leaves above 3 14g em? led to a decrease in the coefficient of variation in the whole visible range of the spectrum, but the above-mentioned spectral fea- tures remained. Sensitivity of the reflectance, integrated in spectral bands of MODIS, to Chi-a is demonstrated in Figure 3. In the near-infrared as well as in the blue ranges of the spectrum, reflectance remained essentially the same in the very wide region of Chl concentration. In the red band near 670 nm, rellectance decreased. sharply when Chka increased from 0.3 jg lem? to 3 4g! After this reflectance did not change and remained virtually the same for leaves from yellow-green to dark green. The reflectance in the green band showed maxi- mal sensitivity to Chl-a; it changed more than fourfold for Chlea ranging from 0.3 yg / cm? to 44 ug /em®. There is a hyperbolic relationship between Chi-a and Powe: For the function Chl-a versus (Poe)~! the correlation was found to be very high (7220.95), with an error of Chia estimation of less than 2.8 4g /em'. Another notable feature of the reflectance spectra was a high correlation between the reflectances in the red, penny and blue, puso ranges of the spectrum for yellow-green to green both chestnut and maple leaves (Fig. 4). Therefore, the variation in background of nonphotosynthetie reflectance for the same chlorophyll 293 (Uwe of « Green Channel in Remote Sensing Figure 4. The reflectance at 650-690 fam versus that at 460-490 nn, concentration could be recognized in differences be- tween them at the 500 nm and 670 nm. The index [(Rexo/ Rowe) ~ 1] will be useful to counteract the effects of background reflectance Construction of Vegetation Indeves The index for chlorophyll estimation should be invariant with respect to pigments other than Chl, and should not be influenced by other factors. Therefore, it would be useful to find spectral bands where only one domi- nant factor (Chi-a) influences variation in reflectance. ‘The coefficient of variation spectra (Fig, 2) clearly indi- cates specific spectral bands with maximum and mini mum sensitivity of the reflectance to Chl-a. Maximum, sensitivity takes place from 520 nm to 630 nm and near 700 nm. Reflectance near 670 nm was almost pigment-concentration-independent for Chla ranging from 3-5 g/m? to more than 40 4g/em?, The lowest variation of reflectance took place in the near-infrared (above 750 nm) and in the blue (shorter than 500 xnm) parts of the spectrum. The reflectance in the near infra-red can be taken as a term insensitive to Chl-a concentration, Among the spectral bands of the MODIS sensor there are no bands near 700 nm but a spectral band centered at 550 nm does exist. Therefore, we could consider this band pose instead of pa, as the sensitive term in NDVI “Green” NDV [Po + Pov This index was found to be much more sensitive to the hI concentration in a wide range of Chl variations (Fig. 5) than the original “red” NDVI, and enabled precise estimation of pigment concentration. Figure 6 demonstrates a fairly linear relationship between (Chl)" and “green” NDVI. The coefficient of correlation for this relationship was > 0.96, with an estimation error for Chl-a of less than 2 axe In order to create indexes both resistant to at spheric effects and sensitive to pigment concentration our findings (Figs. 5 and 6) and the ARVI approach should be combined. The increase in sensitivity to Chl294 Gitelson etal Figure 5. NDVI and “green” NDVI, de~ termined a8 [ParPovs] | Pou * Bars] Ver sus chlorophsll-a concentration. The them is the use Of Rows instead of concentration (in comparison to the NDVT and ARVI) was accomplished by employing the reflectance in the green channel of MODIS, Pos instead of the red channel, p,. To keep. in the same time, the self correction property for atmospheric effects of the ARVI vegetation indes, the difference in the reflectance be- tween the blue and the red channels should be used, For the yellow-green to dark green vegetation, in the absence of atmospheric effect, the difference (Phir) is virtually equal to zero (Fig. 7). Therefore, this differ- ence can be used to correct the green channel in the same way it was used to correct the red channel in ARVI. The following indexes were examined: Atmospheric resistant green index (GARD; GARI = [Pos [Pecos AUP ite = Pi! [Pos + row = AP ~ P's) Atmospheric resistant green-red index: GRARL = (9. — [nie (LM ~ Plo [MP aven (1 ~ Bh where pis the apparent reflectance (or radi pressed in reflectance units) alter correcting for the molecular scattering and absorption. 2 is a parameter that controls the atmospheric correction, 17 is a mix in GRARI of green and red reflectance in order to. get properties that are between ARVI and GARI. To analyze the sensitivity of the new indexes to pigment concentra tion, we compared their dynamic range for Chlea varia tions from 0.3 g/cm? to more than 40 sug//em?, NDVE hhasa minimal dynamic range (at about 0.8), while ARVI, GARI, and GRARI have a similar and wider dynamic range (more than 1.3). The difference between ARVI and both GARI and GRARI is in their sensitivity to pigment concentration for the yellow-green to dark green vegetation (Chl-a>3-5 sug/em’). This can be seen from Figure , where ARVI is plotted against GARL For Cha less than 3.4g//em?, the increase in An estimation te be as low 3 wg fem cero of (Ch as 2 ug/e for total chlorophyll Doth indexes was identical. But for Chika > 3-5 yg! em* (for GARI near 0.3), ARVI saturated and did not change any further with an increase in Chl. At the same time GARI increased varying from 0.30 to 0.8 for yellow- green to green vegetation. GRART has a similar relation- ship, like GARI, with Chl concentration. For yellow green to green vegetation, GARI and GRARI have a much higher dynamic range than NDVI and ARVI, For Chi-a>5 ug/em* the coefficient of variation of ARV is, on average, at least three times smaller than that of GARI (Fig. 9) For our data sets, GARI permits assessment of Chia, with an estimation error of less than 2 sg/em*, and of total Chl within 3 sagen Sensitivity to Atmospheric Effects In order to test the sensitiv atmospheric effects, a simul: of the new indexes to ion of the radiances ob- Figure 7. Difference of the reflectances i) versus chlorophyll-a concen- For yellow-green to dark gre leaves with Cha more than 3 ug em, the difference between them remained essentially the same and was closekat Figure 8. Atmospherically resistant vege: tation index (ARVD) versus atmospheri cally resistant green index (GARD, For the Cha concentration as low as 3-5 ug fem?, ARVI saturates while GARI ‘grows larger with an increase in Chl served at the top of the atmosphere was performed using the 65 code (Vermote et al, 1995; Tanré et al., 1990). Four atmospheric models were used. The reflectance at the top of the atmosphere was calculated for a given surface reflectance p by p*=p.+ Tp! (1 ~sp), where p, isthe atmospheric path radiance in reflectance units (radiance at the top of the atmosphere for a black surface), T is the total transmission (diffuse + direct) of sunlight twice through the atmosphere, to the ground and back to space, p is the surface reflectance, assumed to be equal to the reflectance of the leaf, and is the back seattering of reflected sunlight by the atmosphere back to the surface. The parameters ps, T and s are Figure 9. The coeficient of variation for various indeves (determined as a ratio of the standard desiation of the index to its average value) for maple and chestnut leaves with Cha concentration ranged from 5 to 448 ug/em®. The sensitnity of GARI and GRARI to Cha was found to be at least threefold higher than for ARV, and fivefold higher than for NDVI. Use of a Green Channel in Remote Sensing 295 Table 1. Parameters Used in the Atmospheric Simulations of the Radiance atthe Top of the Atmosphere as Expressed in Reflectance Units, prip=p.+ Toi (t~*) MODIS Spectral Band Parameter__"T7Onm 350m 670 nm 86D am Noaernol 2 om — 0037 0017 0.06 r Osis 0st 09230982 : os 0080.08 ot 2 0050090037013 t O74 OTs OSH OS : ols ols » 0135008500573 r om —Oss3anst | Oad : 03 0190s Moriine 25 km s oss 0082002 one r O77 sot ORE 0m : ois 009006, 7. He tronpheric pth radiance a velccance was adlance a the top athe atmosphere for ablack surface), Tis the total transmission (dfse dieet) of sunlight tice throngh the atmosphere, to the round and back to space, i the surface reflectance, ands isthe backscattering of elected sunlight bythe atmosphere back tothe sit face given in Table 1 for each model and spectral band. These atmospheric models were applied to the maple and chestnut spectral reflectanees and the vegetation indexes NDVI and GARI were calculated. The results are plotted in Figure 10. The vegetation indexes NDVI and GARI are plotted as a function of the chlorophyll Figure 10. Plot of the vegetation indexes NDVI and GARD as a function of the chlorophsll for the four atmospheres sven in Table 1. Open symbols are for ‘chestnut and closed symbols for maple. Dashed lines are for maple only for the: four atmospheres. Note the higher sens: tivity of GARI to chlorophsll concentes- tion and the smaller sensitivity to atmo: spheric effets Chiorophyll,ugiem?296 Gitelson etal Table 2. Results for Chestnut Leaves: the Errors in the Vegetation Indexes Due to Atmospheric Effects for the Three Aerosol Conditions and Several Ranges of Chlorophyll Concentration Continental 5 kom and 25 kon anal Maritime 25 km ARV CARI GRARI ‘Chlorophyll (0-10 pie 0.004 0.021 0.025 0.025 10-35 page 0.053 0017 O21 oat 25-40 uslew* 0071 0015 Goll oon 40-57 aa 007s 0017 ania oats Optinized vale ofy = = 9B AT Average error ee og 13 6 0055 001s WoIT 0016 ‘relation VI om) 076 090 OST Correlation VIEChP? 04088097096 “For each range ofconcentation the absolute ervorin the vegetation Indes gven: @NDVE JARVT SGARL and BARGRVI. ss ell range ff the index forthe whole scale af Chand the ratio ofthe errr ange. The optiization of the indices wis done for values larger than those of Kaufman and Tanré (1993). concentration for the four atmospheres given in Table 1, GARI shows a much higher sensitivity to chlorophyll concentration than NDVI and a smaller sex atmospheric effects, While the NDVI saturates already for Chha<5-7 ug/em?, GARI does not saturate even at Chl >40 yg /em*, The sensitivity to the atmospheric effect is also much smaller. It is given by the width of the plots in Figure 10, which is 3-4 times wider for the NDVI than for GARI, Table 2 summarizes the sensitivity of NDVI, ARV, GARI, and GRARI to Chi concentr tions and to the atmospheric effects for several ranges of the Chl concentrations. Results are given for chestnut leaves. Exeept for very small Chl concentrations, where the NDVI is most sensitive. due to the sensitivity of the red channel, the errors in the other vegetation i due to the atmospheric effects are 3 times smaller, and the range is 1.5 times larger. This gives an advantage of factor 4 over NDVI, similar to the results of Kaufman and Tanré (1992). In the present case, though, the ‘optimization of the indices was achieved for y values larger than those of Kaufman and Tanré (1992), 7 ~ 7. ‘The reason for it is the higher reflectance of the leaves, from that of the full canopy (see Fig. 1). Higher reflec tance in the red and blue decreases the difference in the atmospheric effect on them, thus requiring a higher value of 7 to compensate for it. Similar results were obtained for maple leaves. The value of y or 2 in the GARI expression needs to be defined empirically using simulations with spectral data taken of verify of full canopy DISCUSSION ‘The mechanisms responsible for the revealed spectral signatures have to be better understood in order to ascertain whether the parameters of the above indexes «will be stable over a wide range of pigment concentra- tions in the leaves and can be applied to a number of plant species. The leaves studied cover a very wide range of pigment concentrations (leaf color changed from completely yellow to dark green). It could be considered to be a model of different physiological states, of a plant, which reveals the following important rela- tionships 1. Relationship between reflectance near 670: nm {as well as from 400 nm to 500 nm) and Chl-a saturated for a Chl-a concentration near 3 4g! cem?, whereas in a wide spectral range from 520 nm to 630 nm and near 700 nm this relation was monotonous and the reflectance remained sensitive to pigment concentrations up to Chl- > 40 ug em* (Figs. 1-3). 2. For green-yellow to green leaves (Chla>3-5 g/cm), a strong correlation (12> 0.85) between the red (650-690 nm) and blue (460-480 nm) re- flectances was found (Figs. 4 and 7), The spectral range from 530 nm to 570 nm is located between two wide bands of strong pigment absorption. The “green” channel is above the “green edge” in the reflectance spectrum, around 520 nm, on the long wavelength side of the blue Chl-a absorption band. The spectral behavior of this edge was found to be very similar to that of the red edge (Horler et al 1983). The difference between them is that the green edge is primarily determined by Chl, Chl- and Car absorption, while the red edge is governed by Chl-a and Chl-b. At longer wavelengths this spectral band is located before the large range of absorption by chloro: phylls, Thus, in the range 530-570 nm, two strong absorption processes reach their minimum, producing the monotonous relationship of Chha versus green re- flectance with a high sensitivity to Chl-a concentration, In the range 530-570 nm, as well as at longer wave lengths, Chlea and -b play a major, even a dominant, role in light absorption. The contribution of carotenoids is probably much less, as indicated by the reflectance spectra of yellow leaves (Fig. 1). In the presence of trace amounts of both chlorophrlls (< 0.3 4g/em*) and considerable quantities of carotenoids (>3 g/cm), no evidence for the contribution of carotenoids to reflec tance in the range 530-570 nm exists (upper curve in Fig. 1). However, an inerease in Chlea up to 3 ag / em oon a background of approximately the same amounts, carotenoids led to a signifiean n the “greet reflectance. Therefore, the carotenoids did not contrib- ute significantly 10 Posse and the reflectance in the range 530-570 nm can be used for estimating of total Chl and Chl-a. Considering speetral resolution of MO: DIS green chan ‘conclude it is quite optimal for this application. Higher spectral resolution does not lead to decrease in an estimation error. It should benoted also that the AVHRR red channel is more sensitive than the narrower MODIS red channel to variation in Chl concentration in dense vegetation. The data in Figure 2 show that the MODIS red channel will stop to be sensitive to Chl for smaller Chl concentrations than the wider AVHRR channel ‘The parameters of the relationships between reflec- tance and pigment coneentration depend on many fac- tors; the primary ones are species, pigment composition, and developmental stage. High sensitivity pss to Chl-a concentration was also demonstrated by Tanner and Eller (1986) for European beach leaves, and by Busch- mann and Nagel (1993) for intact bean leaves, This is consistent with the observations of Horler et al., (1983) where, again, a strong correlation between pio and the position of the red edge (that is very sensitive to Chl concentration) was found. Considering the sources of “noise” in the algorithms, it is indeed remarkable that the error of Chl-a estimation in the range 0.3- 44.8 ug! cm? for maple and chestnut leaves was as low as 2 g/m? Measurements of additional reflectance spectra of six species (itelson et al., 1996) showed that the rela- tionship of GARI to chlorophyll concentration remained practically the same. Therefore, the Chl content at leaf level can be estimated with an accuracy that is not smaller than that for the two species mentioned earlier in the article. Lichtenthaller et al. (1996) showed the application of green band for Chl assessment in tobacco (green and mutant) Teaves. An estimation error of total Chl content of less than 2 4g/ em? was achieved. Thus, it shows that the estimate of Chl concentration at the leaf level using GARI can be expected to be not very sensitive to the vegetation species, A high correlation between reflectances pis and Pea was found for both plant species with Chha>3 sag can® (Fig. 4). This means that absorbance by Chl-a, -b and Car near 500-nm and by both chlorophylls near 670 nm was almost similar over a wide range of p variation (Gitelson and Meralvak, 1996). The closest corre- lation between pri and fr took place when a certain proportion of green pigments and carotenoids existed. Apparently this phenomenon is unique for yellow-green to green vegetation, where a decrease in green pigment during senescence or disease is followed by a propor- tional decrease in carotenoid concentration. These spec tral features were useful in construction of indexes resis- tant to atmospheric effects. The similarity in the value of the reflectance inthe blue and red bands (for velow-green to green vegetation) over a wide range of pigment concentrations (Fig. 7) allows correction of the green reflectance for atmospheric effects using the difference of the reflectances (Piss ~ fai)- Even though the optimi- zation of the atmospherically resistant indexes occurred for y values much higher than that of Kaufman and Tanré (1992), probably due to the much higher reflec- tance of leaves than that of the whole eanopy, the opti Use of a Green Channel in Remote Sensing 297 mized vegetation indices GARI and GRARI were 4 times less sensitive to the atmospheric effect than the NDVI and at the same time they were sensitive to Chl concen- tration of more than 40 g/cm? instead of less than 10 ug! cm: for the NDVI. or ARVI While the current study: demonstrates that devel- oped indexes are accurate in quantifying leaF-level Chl content, we do not know how well these algorithms will hold at the canopy level. 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