Plant life and food production for human closely depend on fertile and healthy soil. Knowledge about qualitative properties of soil and its potential production can contribute us in the plantation, fertilization, utilization and land management. In addition, Rangelands cover a very large portion of the earth's surface and play an important role in food security and other ecosystem services. The...

The spatial heterogeneity of recent decadal dynamics in vegetation greenness and biomass in response to changes in summer warmth index (SWI) was investigated along spatial gradients on the Arctic Slope of Alaska. Image spatial analysis was used to examine the spatial pattern of greenness dynamics from 1991 to 2000 as indicated by variations of the maximum normalized difference vegetation index ...

The objective of this study was to investigate the regression relations between vegetation indices derived from remotely-sensed data of single and mixed forest regeneration plots. Loblolly pine (Pinos faeda L.J seedlings, sweelgum (Liquidambar sfyraciflua L.) seedlings and broomsedge (Andropogon virginiws L.) grass were arranged in a factorial combination addition series experiment and replicat...

Because of all-weather working ability, sensitivity to biomass and moisture, and high spatial resolution, Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite images can perfectly complement optical images for pasture monitoring. This paper aims to examine the potential of the integration of COnstellation of small Satellites for the Mediterranean basin Observasion (COSMO-SkyMed), Environmental Satellite Ad...

Detecting land cover change over semi-arid rangeland is important for monitoring vegetation responses to drought, population expansion, and changing agricultural practices. Such change can be detected using vegetation indices, but these do not represent non-green vegetation and are dominated by seasonal changes. An alternative is to observe spatial changes in thermal emissivities, a measure tha...

Remotely sensed imageries were used to analyze the response of desert vegetation to physiographic factors and accumulated precipitation in drier and wetter years within a region of >16,500 km(2) sampled with 5,000 random pixels of 30 m. Vegetation development was indexed by the annual maximum values for greenness (SAVI) and canopy water content (NDII). Precipitation was interpolated from the 0....

This study presents a method for quantitatively estimating leaf area index (LAI) in winter wheat by exploring bi-directional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) data. In BRDF data, near-infrared reflectance (NIR) which is sensitive to crown component, canopy cover and crown shape, is affected by illuminated crown component, while red reflectance is sensitive to canopy gaps and controlled b...

Hyperspectral (450-2500 nm) airborne HyMap imaging spectrometer data (spatial resolution 5 m) were processed for mapping of environmental effects on vegetation due to talc mining activities at Lahnaslampi, Sotkamo, Finland. As a part of the european MINEO project, the HyMap imagery was interpreted by applying vegetation indices, using standard classification and hyperspectral mapping approaches...

Estimating forest variables, such as photosynthetic light use efficiency, from satellite reflectance data requires understanding the contribution of photosynthetic vegetation (PV) and nonphotosynthetic vegetation (NPV). The fractions of PV and NPV present in vegetation reflectance data are typically controlled by the canopy structure and the respective viewing angle. The persistent but highly v...

A coupled vegetation growth and SVAT (Soil-Vegetation-Atmosphere Transfer) model is used in conjunction with data collected in the course of the SALSA program during the 1997, 1998 and 1999 growing seasons in Mexico. The objective is to provide insights on the interactions between grassland dynamics and water and energy budgets. These three years exhibit drastically different precipitation regi...