Estimation of seasonal dynamics of understory NDVI in northern forests using MODIS BRDF data: Semi-empirical versus physically-based approach

Jan Pisek*, Miina Rautiainen, Maris Nikopensius, Kairi Raabe

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

42 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The spatial and temporal patterns of the forest background reflectance are critically important for retrieving the biophysical parameters of the forest canopy (overstory) and for ecosystem modeling. In this short communication paper, we retrieved the seasonal courses of understory Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) from MODIS BRDF data using the semi-empirical and physically-based approach. We compared the satellite-based understory NDVI series to seasonal courses of understory NDVI measured in the forests for three full growing seasons in boreal and hemiboreal sites in Northern Europe. Our results indicated both semi-empirical and physically-based approaches using MODIS BRDF data do have a potential to track seasonal changes in understory NDVI. Differences in the performance between of the two retrieval methods can be expected within the boreal zone depending on the level of forest fragmentation.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)42-47
Number of pages6
JournalRemote Sensing of Environment
Volume163
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 5 Jun 2015
MoE publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

Keywords

  • Boreal
  • Forest floor
  • MODIS BRDF
  • Multi-angle remote sensing
  • NDVI
  • Radiative transfer model

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