Analysis of vegetation isolines in Red-NIR reflectance space

The characteristic behavior of red-near-infrared (NIR) reflectance-based vegetation isolines were analyzed by focusing on its three features: the slope, NIR-intercept, and the intersection between the vegetation isoline and the soil line. These properties are the key factors in understanding variations of vegetation index values with changes of canopy background brightness, known as background noise. The analysis was conducted based on a vegetation isoline equation derived by using the representation of canopy reflectance by the adding method. The isoline parameters, slopes, and NIR-intercepts of vegetation isolines were numerically obtained by the SAIL canopy model. Some of the known behaviors of the vegetation isoline were simulated and analyzed in detail. (C) Elsevier Science Inc., 2000.