Green leaf area and fraction of photosynthetically active radiation absorbed by vegetation.
Résumé
Leaf Area Index (LAI), the area of leaves per unit ground area, and the Fraction of Photosynthetically Active Radiation (FPAR; 400–700 nm) absorbed by vegetation are important biophysical variables for quantifying the cycling of water, carbon and nutrients through ecosystems. The LAI/FPAR products from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR), the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor and the Système Pour l’Observation de la Terre (SPOT) sensor have a large Earth science community user base and the ease of access, provision of pixel quality and validation information have greatly aided the use of these products. Recent research efforts focusing on inter-sensor product consistencies have developed a foundation upon which mature algorithms and a validation framework can act synergistically to further refine the accuracy and precision of these existing long-term products. This chapter provides a brief overview of the recent progresses in LAI/FPAR estimation algorithms and resulting biophysical products from the AVHRR, MODIS, SPOT and Landsat data