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Short communication
A spectral reflectance-based approach to quantification of grassland
cover from Landsat TM imagery
Yong Zha a, Jay Gao b,*, Shaoxiang Ni a, Yansui Liu c, Jianjun Jiang a, Yuchun Wei a
a
College of Geographic Science, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210097, China
b
School of Geography and Environmental Science, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand
c
Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
Received 18 February 2003; received in revised form 1 May 2003; accepted 31 May 2003
Abstract
In this paper, a reflectance-based method is proposed to accurately quantify percent grass cover from TM data for a semiarid grassland in
western China. In situ measured percent grass cover was sampled over 1 m2 plots at 68 sites. Their ground coordinates were logged with a
global positioning system (GPS) receiver and their spectral reflectance measured with a spectrometer. Normalized difference vegetation index
(NDVI) was derived from both in situ measured spectral reflectance and radiometrically calibrated Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) bands 3
and 4. It was found that the NDVI derived from in situ measured spectral reflectance was closely correlated with percent grass cover
(R2 = 0.74), but not with its counterpart derived from the satellite image. After standardization of the latter with the former, the TM-derived
NDVI bore a close regression relationship with the in situ measured samples (R2 = 0.74). This relationship enabled the successful
quantification of grass cover from the satellite image at an overall accuracy of 89%. This reflectance-based method can be used to reliably
quantify grass cover from TM imagery.
D 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
0034-4257/$ - see front matter D 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.rse.2003.05.001
372 J. Gao et al. / Remote Sensing of Environment 87 (2003) 371–375
2. Study area
4. Results
Fig. 5. Distribution of quantified percent grass cover at 10 levels. The ground area covered is 9 km by 9 km. Top faces north.
374 J. Gao et al. / Remote Sensing of Environment 87 (2003) 371–375
NDVIi values derived from the satellite image have a range correct level, resulting in an overall accuracy of 89% (Table
from 0.4067 to 0.5805 (Fig. 1), much narrower than that 1). The accuracy for an individual percentage level varies
from in situ measured reflectance which varies from 0.2898 between 75% and 100%. There is no definite relationship
to 0.6283 (Fig. 2). This difference in value range is probably between the accuracy level and the percent cover. In
a consequence of the atmospheric impact. Therefore, it was general, those covers between 40% and 80% tend to be less
decided to standardize the TM-derived NDVIi with the accurately quantified than other covers.
NDVIr obtained from in situ measured reflectance at every
sampling plot j. This standardization was accomplished
using Eq. (3). 5. Conclusions
NDVIrj NDVIrmin Because of differential sampling sizes on the ground and
NDVIij ¼
NDVIr max NDVIr min from space, percent grass cover cannot be directly quanti-
ðNDVIimax NDVIimin Þ þ NDVIimin ð3Þ fied from TM imagery based on concurrently collected
samples over 1 m2 plots. However, a statistically significant
Where NDVIimax and NDVIimin stand for the maximum relationship (R2 = 0.74) exists between in situ measured
and minimum NDVIi derived from the TM image, respec- grass cover and NDVI derived from in situ measured
tively; NDVIrmax and NDVIrmin are the maximum and spectral reflectance. After the NDVI results derived from
minimum NDVIr derived from the in situ measured spectral the TM image were calibrated with the in situ measured
reflectance, respectively. After the maximum and minimum spectral reflectance, their statistically significant relationship
NDVIr and NDVIi values were plugged into Eq. (3), it was with ground sampled percent grass cover was established
simplified as: through regression analysis. The application of this empir-
NDVIij ¼ 0:513733 NDVIr j þ 0:257757 ð4Þ ical relationship transformed the TM-derived NDVI image
into a map of percent grass cover which was subsequently
This standardization is essentially a process of scaling up visualized at 10 percentage levels. Assessed against 100
radiometric values of the TM image pixels. After standard- randomly selected check points, this map had an accuracy of
ization the relationship between grass cover estimated on the 89%. It is concluded that assisted by in situ measured
ground and NDVIi derived from the TM bands became spectral reflectance, TM imagery, in conjunction with con-
much closer at an R2 value of 0.74 (Fig. 4). It represents a current sampling of grass cover on the ground, can be used
drastic improvement over the relationship shown in Fig. 1. to reliably quantify percent grass cover in an environment
Such a close relationship demonstrates the possibility of where grass cover is spatially heterogeneous. It should be
quantifying grass cover from TM imagery. This relationship applicable to any grassland where grass cover is spatially
was then used to transform the TM-derived NDVIi image heterogeneous.
into a map of grass cover. This map was later visualized at
10 percentage levels at an interval of 10% (Fig. 5). The
distribution of the mapped cover closely resembles the Acknowledgements
pattern shown on the original image.
The produced map was quantitatively evaluated for its We are grateful for the valuable comments made by two
accuracy. In total, 100 points were selected randomly for anonymous reviewers on the former version of this manu-
this purpose. A comparison of the visually estimated percent script. This research was supported by a grant from the
grass cover with the mapped results indicated that of these National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No.
100 random check points, 89 had been quantified at the 49971056). It also received funding from the Knowledge
Table 1
Confusion matrix for the grass cover map assessed with 100 check points (row: mapped results; column: in situ measured results)
Cover V10 11 – 20 21 – 30 31 – 40 41 – 50 51 – 60 61 – 70 71 – 80 81 – 90 91 – 100 Accuracy (%)
V10 5 1 83.3
11 – 20 2 100
21 – 30 8 100
31 – 40 2 18 90
41 – 50 1 20 2 87
51 – 60 1 15 1 88.2
61 – 70 6 1 85.7
71 – 80 1 3 75
81 – 90 3 100
91 – 100 1 9 90
Sum 5 3 10 19 21 17 8 4 4 9 89
J. Gao et al. / Remote Sensing of Environment 87 (2003) 371–375 375
Innovation Project of IGSNRR at the Chinese Academy of the Qinghai Lake region. Chinese Journal of Ecology, 13, 44 – 49 (in
Chinese).
Science (Grant No. CXIOG-E01-05-03), and from the Key
Dymond, J. R., Stephens, P. R., Newsome, P. F., & Wilde, R. H. (1992).
Science and Technology Project of the Ministry of Land Percentage vegetation cover of a degrading rangeland from SPOT. In-
and Resources, People’s Republic of China (Grant No. ternational Journal of Remote Sensing, 13, 1999 – 2007.
20010102). Friedl, M. A., Michaelsen, J., Davis, F. W., Walker, H., & Schimel, D. S.
(1994). Estimating grassland biomass and leaf area index using
ground and satellite data. International Journal of Remote Sensing,
15, 1401 – 1420.
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