LANDSAT Thematic Mapper bands for characterizing fescue grass vegetation

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Abstract
The relationships between reflectance in the LANDSAT Thematic Mapper (TM) bands and grass canopy characteristics were studied. Data were collected from a total of 107 tall fescue (Festuca arundinacia) plots (0·2 m2) during the 1983 growing season. Canopy height, percentage cover, total wet biomass, total dry biomass, plant water and leaf area index were correlated with spectral data obtained from a Barnes Modular Multiband Radiometer. The near-infrared wavelength region corresponding to TM band 4 appeared to be the best estimator of total wet biomass (r = 0·80) and canopy height (r =0·82). Percentage canopy cover had the highest correlation coefficients with TM band 7 (r = −0·95) and TM bands 1, 2 and 3 (r≥0·93). All canopy variables showed a curvilinear relationship with the spectral bands, except canopy cover, which showed a near linear relationship, for the biomass range in this study. Linear transformations were obtained using natural logarithms of the grass canopy variables and the spectral bands. Band ratios were more significant than individual bands when correlated with the canopy variables. The relationship between the normalized difference transformation and total wet biomass was linear for low biomass situations. The normalized difference values were constant for high biomass levels. Redundancy was found in several of the canopy variables and several of the spectral variables. Principal component transformations were effective in reducing the seven spectral bands to two principal components, while maintaining nearly all of the variance of the seven bands.

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