Title
Global products of vegetation leaf area and fraction absorbed PAR from year one of MODIS data
Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Remote Sensing of Environment
Publication Date
2002
Volume
83
First Page
214
Last Page
231
Abstract
An algorithm based on the physics of radiative transfer in vegetation canopies for the retrieval of vegetation green leaf area index (LAI) and fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (FPAR) from surface reflectances was developed and implemented for operational processing prior to the launch of the moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard the TERRA platform in December of 1999. The performance of the algorithm has been extensively tested in prototyping activities prior to operational production. Considerable attention was paid to characterizing the quality of the product and this information is available to the users as quality assessment (QA) accompanying the product. The MODIS LAI/FPAR product has been operationally produced from day one of science data processing from MODIS and is available free of charge to the users from the Earth Resources Observation System (EROS) Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center. Current and planned validation activities are aimed at evaluating the product at several field sites representative of the six structural biomes. Example results illustrating the physics and performance of the algorithm are presented together with initial QA and validation results. Potential users of the product are advised of the provisional nature of the product in view of changes to calibration, geolocation, cloud screening, atmospheric correction and ongoing validation activities.
Rights
© 2002 Elsevier
Recommended Citation
Myneni, R. B., Hoffman S., Knyazikhin Y., Privette J. L., Glassy J., Tian Y., Wang Y., Song X., Zhang Y., Smith G. R., Lotsch A., Friedl M., Morisette J. T., Votava P., Nemani R. R., and Running S. W. (2002). Global products of vegetation leaf area and fraction absorbed PAR from year one of MODIS data. Remote Sensing of Environment, 83: 214-231.