The Relationship Between Canopy Clumping Index (CI), Fractional Vegetation Cover (FVC), and LEAF Area Index (LAI): An Analysis of Global Satellite Products

摘要

Global canopy clumping index (CI), fractional vegetation cover (FVC), and leaf area index (LAI) are important vegetation biophysical variables. Understanding their relationship is crucial for land surface radiative transfer and land surface modeling. This study analyzed the global CI (CAS-CI, 1.1), FVC (GLASS V2.0), and LAI (MODIS V6.0) relationship derived from the satellite data from 2003 to 2017. The results show that, over the past 15 years, the global FVC and LAI has increased whereas the vegetation CI has decreased during this period. In general, CI shows a negative convex relationship with the global FVC and a concave relationship with LAI. The relationship will be further explored for different biome types and at different regions. The statistical relationship provides a deep understanding of the global CI, FVC, and LAI products. The relationship is useful for estimating the global canopy CI from FVC and LAI.