UTILIZING THE VEN(mu)S RED-EDGE BANDS FOR ASSESSING LAI IN CROP FIELDS

摘要

This study aims to explore the potential and advantage of using the red-edge spectral bands of the forthcoming Vegetation and Environmental New micro Spacecraft (VEN(mu)S) for assessing Leaf Area Index (LAI) in field crops. Field spectral data were collected from experimental plots of wheat and potato at the northwestern Negev, Israel. These data were resampled to the VEN(mu)S bands being used for calculating the Red-Edge Inflection Point (REIP) and the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), which were compared to these same indices calculated with the original wavelengths. The VEN(mu)S data were found to be as good predictor of LAI as when using the original (continuous) data. The REIP was found to be significantly better than NDVI for prediction of wheat plants LAI and therefore could potentially be applied for future monitoring field crops LAI by VEN(mu)S.