NASA Logo

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Back to Results
The Effect of Incident Light Polarization on Vegetation Bidirectional Reflectance FactorThe Laboratory-based Bidirectional Reflectance Factor (BRF) polarization study of vegetation is presented in this paper. The BRF was measured using a short-arc Xenon lamp/monochromator assembly producing an incoherent, tunable light source with a well-defined spectral bandpass at visible and near-infrared wavelengths of interest at 470 nm and 870 nm and coherent light source at 1.656 microns. All vegetation samples were measured using P and S linearly polarized incident light over a range of incident and scatter angles. By comparing these results, we quantitatively examine how the BRF of the samples depends on the polarization of the incident light. The differences are significant, depend strongly on the incident and scatter angles, and can be as high as 120% at 67 deg incident and 470nm. The global nature of Earth's processes requires consistent long-term calibration of all instruments involved in data retrieval. The BRF defines the reflection characteristics of Earth surface. It provides the reflectance of a target in a specific direction as a function of illumination and viewing geometry. The BRF is a function of wavelength and reflects the structural and optical properties of the surface. Various space and airborne radiometric and imaging remote sensing instruments are used in the remote sensing characterization of vegetation canopies and soils, oceans, or especially large pollution sources. The satellite data is validated through comparison with airborne, ground-based and laboratory-based data in an effort to fully understand the vegetation canopy reflectance, The Sun's light is assumed to be unpolarized at the top of the atmosphere; however it becomes polarized to some degree due to atmospheric effects by the time it reaches the vegetation canopy. Although there are numerous atmospheric correction models, laboratory data is needed for model verification and improvement.
Document ID
20100033355
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Georgiev, Georgi T. (Sigma Space Corp. Lanham, MD, United States)
Thome, Kurt (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Ranson, Kurtis J. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
King, Michael D. (Colorado Univ. Boulder, CO, United States)
Butler, James J. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Date Acquired
August 25, 2013
Publication Date
July 25, 2010
Subject Category
Earth Resources And Remote Sensing
Meeting Information
Meeting: 2010 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS)
Location: Honolulu, HI
Country: United States
Start Date: July 25, 2010
End Date: July 30, 2010
Sponsors: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.

Related Records

There are no records associated with this record.
No Preview Available