Analysis of the perpendicular structure of vegetation by spectral reflectance in the visible and near infrared

The analysis of the perpendicular structure of vegetation by remote sensing would provide valuable information for classification of vegetation and estimation of the environment. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between perpendicular structure of vegetation and spectral reflectance in visible and near infrared. The spectral reflectance is measured in the range of 400nm to 2500nm at intervals of 1nm by changing the number of overlap leaves, perpendicular space between leaves, angle of leaf, incident angle and sensor look angle. The results indicate the following features. First, spectral reflectance in red and near infrared increases with increasing the number of overlap leaves and narrowing the perpendicular space between leaves, but visible rays are not affected by these factors. Secondly, when the perpendicular space between leaves is wide, the spectral reflectance is affected by incident angle. Thirdly, the changes of spectral reflectance differ with leaf angle. These results lead to the conclusion that the relationship between those parameters is complex.