GREEN VEGETATION, NONPHOTOSYNTHETIC VEGETATION, AND SOILS IN AVIRIS DATA

An Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) image collected over the jasper Ridge Biological Preserve, California on 20 September 1989 was analyzed using spectral mixture analysis. The scene was calibrated to reflectance assuming a homogeneous atmosphere. The image was modeled initially as linear mixtures of the minimum number of reference endmember spectra that accounted for the maximum spectral variability. Over 98% of the spectral variation was explained by linear mixtures of three endmembers: green vegetation, shade, and soil. Additional spectral variation appeared as residuals. Nonlinear mixing was expressed as variations in the fraction of each endmember when a linear mixing model was applied to spectral subsets of the entire spectrum. After the fractions of the endmember spectra were calculated for each pixel, different types of soil were discriminated by the residual spectra. Nonphotosynthetic vegetation (NPV) (e.g., dry grass, leaf litter, and woody material), which could not be distinguished from soil when included as an endmember, was discriminated by residual spectra that contained cellulose and lignin absorptions. Distinct communities of green vegetation were distinguished by 1) nonlinear mixing effects caused by transmission and scattering by green leaves, 2) variations in a derived canopy-shade spectrum, and 3) the fraction of NPV. The results of the image analysis, supported by field observations in 1990 and 1991, indicate that the multiple bands of AVIRIS enhance discrimination of NPV from soil, and the separation of different types of green vegetation. The ability of the system to measure narrow absorption bands is one important factor, however, also important is the variation in continuum spectra expressed by the endmembers, and characteristic nonlinear mixing effects associated with green leaves.