REMOTE SENSING OF ENVIRONMENT 23:213-232 (1987) 213

Suitability of Spectral Indices for Evaluating

Vegetation Characteristics on Arid Rangelands

A. R. HUETE
Department of Soil and Water Science, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721

R. D. JACKSON
U.S. Water Conservation Laboratory, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture,
Phoenix, Arizona 85040

The spectral behavior of an arid, Lehmann lovegrass (Eragrostis lehmanniana), range canopy with varying quantities
of live, green grass, senesced, yellow grass, weathered, gray litter, and different soil backgrounds was analyzed with a
ground based radiometer. The analysis included rangeland field plots and artificial mixtures of live and dead grass.
Senesced grass and weathered litter were found to significantly alter the spectral response of the range canopy in the
first four Thematic Mapper wavebands (0.45-0.52; 0.52-0.60; 0.63-0.69; 0.76-0.90/~m). These influences seriously
hampered the utility of spectral vegetation indices in assessing green phytomass levels. Gray litter lowered the
response of the green vegetation index (GVI) and perpendicular vegetation index (PVI) while minimally influencing
the ratio vegetation index (RVI) and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). Yellow, seneseed grass
increased the greenness response of plots without green vegetation and decreased the greenness response of plots with
green vegetation. Higher reflecting soils increased the GVI and PVI response and decreased the RVI and NDVI
response of comparable range canopy mixtures. Small amounts of 30 em tall, green grass (750 kg/ha) could not be
detected within a 75 cm tall, senesced grass stand (5000 kg/ha). The results of this study show spectral vegetation
indices to be unreliable measures of green phytomass in arid rangelands. A mixture model employing principal
component analysis was used to extract a green vegetation signal, but green phytomass detection was not improved.
Apparently, the green vegetation signal emerging from range canopies is diminished by the scattering influences of the
vertically oriented elements of the senesced grass phytomass.

Introduction growth and decomposition overlap in

Remote sensing techniques have had
little success in evaluating the quantity
and quality of rangeland forage in arid
ecosystems. In general, arid rangelands
support low phytomass levels and are
plagued by large temporal and spatial
sources of environmental variability at-
tributed to varying degrees of species di-
versity, dry matter accumulation and de-
composition, complex soft associations,
and topographic influences. There is often
a short period of rapid growth followed
by decomposition, animal grazing, and
consumption by invertebrates. Living and
dead plant materials vary spatially while
time. As a result, the composition and
architecture of arid rangeland canopies
are highly complex and difficult to model.
Various vegetation indices, developed
over relatively uniform croplands, have
been employed to estimate green phyto-
mass spectrally. These indices generally
involve some ratio or linear combina-
tion of a near-infrared (NIR; 0.70-1.10
pm) waveband and a red (0.60-0.70
/zm) chlorophyU-absorption waveband.
Richardson and Wiegand (1977) linearly
combined red and NIR wavebands to
form the perpendicular vegetation index
(PVI) while Kauth and Thomas (1976)
linearly combined four wavebands to form

©A. R. Huete and R. D. Jackson, 1987

214
a green vegetation index (GVI). These
indices have been shown effective in
minimizing soil background variations
while enhancing the green vegetation sig-
nal over croplands, forests, and grasslands
(Colwell, 1974; Tucker, 1979; Richardson
and Wiegand, 1977; Kauth and Thomas,
1976).
Much of the research on grassland
canopies has been conducted over well
vegetated ecosystems. Colwell (1974) and
Pearson et al. (1976) found the ratio
vegetation index (RVI = NIR/red) to be
unreliable in grass canopies with low
green covers ( < 30%). Tucker (1977) and
Ripple (1985) investigated the asymptotic
reflectance characteristics of, respec-
tively, blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis)
and tall rescue (Festuca arundinacea)
grass plots and found the normalized
difference vegetation index [NDVI =
( N I R - r e d ) / ( N I R + r e d ) ] best for esti-
mating low amounts of phytomass. Weiser
et al. (1984) reported a direct correlation
between the RVI and tall grass prairie
phytomass; however, they found their re-
sults to be site-dependent, year-specific,
and sensitive to the presence of senesced
vegetation. Sellers (1985) similarly found
that dead vegetation reduced the NDVI
and RVI values.
Several studies have demonstrated soil
background problems in the detection of
low levels of green phytomass (Colwell,
1973; Tucker and Miller, 1977; Jackson
et al., 1980; Elvidge and Lyon, 1985;
Huete et al., 1985). Huete et al. (1984)
found soil "noise" in spectral indices to
restrict reliable discrimination of green
vegetation below 25% cover in areas with
soil type variations. Heilman and Boyd
(1986) evaluated the sensitivity of vegeta-
tion spectral indices to varying range
canopy conditions utilizing an additive
A. n. HUETE AND R. D. JACKSON
component model. They reported slight
increases in NDVI and GVI response with
increasing amounts of dormant grass.
Their simulations also demonstrate soft
background influences on vegetation in-
dices during the active spring growth and
dormant summer periods of the range-
land canopy.
The purpose of this study was to ex-
amine the spectral behavior of an arid
rangeland canopy subject to low phyto-
mass levels, variable soil backgrounds, and
different stages of decomposition. Both
field plots and controlled artificial mix-
tures of live and dead Lehmann lovegrass
(Eragrostis lehmanniana) were used in
the analysis. Our objective was to criti-
cally analyze the spectral interaction of
the green phytomass component with
nongreen vegetation and soil background
and determine vegetation index sensitiv-
ity to variations in weathered litter accu-
mulation, senesced vegetation, green
phytomass, and soil background. Finally,
a mixture analysis model was employed
to determine ff a green component signal
can be extracted from the complex range
canopy spectra.
Experimental Procedures
A. Controlled range
canopy component mixtures
Various rangeland component mixtures
of green grass, senesced (yellow) grass,
weathered (gray) grass Utter, and soil
background were arranged 1.5 m under-
neath a boom supporting an Exotech
(Model 100A)1 radiometer at the Campus
l Trade names and company names are included for
tile benefit of the reader and do not constitute an en-
dorsement by the University of Arizona or the U.S.
Department of Agriculture.
SPECTRAL INDICES OF RANGE VEGETATION
Agricultural Center, Tucson, AZ. The ra-
diometer measured reflected radiant
flux simultaneously in four Thematic
Mapper wavebands (0.45-0.52, 0.52-
0.60, 0.63-0.69, 0.76-0.90 /~m) with a
15 ° field of view.
Range component mixtures were pre-
pared using a series of 62 × 62 cm trays
sandwiched together and netted with fine
brown string. The trays had 50-cm-
diameter holes and the netting between
the two plates enabled one to insert and
tether live or dead grass material. These
net trays were placed on top of soft trays
(60 × 60 × 6 cm) to create soil-vegetation
mixtures. The grass material could be
sandwiched inside the netted tray to
simulate ground litter or the plant material
could be anchored to the netting to
simulate standing phytomass. The soil tray
and vegetated net tray were positioned
on top of a rotatable platform which al-
lowed one to obtain an azimuthal-
integrated canopy response. The com-
bined, four-band overlapping view area of
the mounted radiometer incorporated
80% of the target area. Following each
experiment, the vegetation material was
dried in an oven (80 ° ) for 48 h and
weighed. Only dry weights are reported
in this paper.
1. Green grass~soil mixtures. Sam-
ple trays of Lehmann lovegrass (Eragros-
tis lehmanniana ) with green leaves, green
culms, and seedheads were transplanted
from the Santa Rita Experimental Range
(48 km south of Tucson) to the Campus
Agricultural Center. Ten minutes prior to
an experimental rim, clumps of green
grass with the roots intact were harvested,
gently loosened of soil material, and
anchored to a netted tray. A dense stand
of mature green grass (75 cm height) was
first arranged and later thinned to vary
215
green phytomass density. Spectral mea-
surements were made over six green grass
densities (7800, 6000, 3650, 1600, 1000,
320 kg/ha) and three soil backgrounds.
The three soils included: 1) a dark col-
ored, organic-rich Cloversprings loam
(fine-silty, mixed Cumulic Cryoboroll), 2)
a red, high iron Whitehouse sandy clay
loam (fine, mixed, thermic Ustollic
Haplargid) and 3) a light colored, yellow-
ish-brown Superstition sand (sandy,
mixed, hyperthermic Typic Calciorthid).
Reflectance factors from the dark and
light colored soils were used to compute
the PVI and GVI (Jackson, 1983).
For each soil and green grass mixture,
replicate measurements of eight readings
were made by fully rotating the platform
with soil and green grass trays. Following
measurements over all soils, the first
soil/green grass treatment was repeated
to check for plant physiological changes.
The entire experimental nm involving six
green grass densities with three soil back-
grounds was completed in 20 min on a
dear day and a nominal solar zenith an-
gle (0~) of 30 °. This was preceded by and
followed by spectral response measure-
ments over a reference barium sulfate
(BaSO4) panel positioned where target
measurements were made. Reflectance
factors were calculated by ratioing the
average of eight target measurements to
the response from the BaSO4 panel and
multiplying by the reflectance factor for
the panel at the particular solar zenith
angle.
2. Litter ~soil mixtures. Samples of
dead, Lehmann lovegrass consisting of
gray litter (over 1 year old) and senesced,
yellow grass (less than 1 year old) were
collected from the Santa Rita Experimen-
tal site. Three densities of weathered
(gray) litter (2400, 1040, and 750 kg/ha)
216
and three levels of senesced grass (4800,
1900 and 950 kg/ha) were set (lying
down) in separate netted trays to simu-
late varying amounts of ground litter at
two stages of decomposition. These
ground litter trays were placed over the
three soft types to measure the spectral
response of soil-litter mixtures. The litter
lay approximately 1-2 cm above the soil
surface and thus created a small shadow
component. In the field, litter depth
varied from 0 to 12 cm above the soil
surface. The experimental reflectance
procedure was analogous to that de-
scribed above.
3. Live grass / senesced grass / soil
mixtures. In this series of experiments,
range canopy component mixtures in-
cluded green and yellow standing phyto-
mass, weathered litter, and soil. For a
given quantity of yellow and green stand-
ing phytomass, spectral measurements
were taken over the three soil back-
grounds, with and without weathered
litter. The first range mixture consisted of
6000 k g / h a standing yellow phytomass
placed, alternately, over three soil types
with and without weathered litter (1040
kg/ha). Then an intermediate quantity of
fresh green grass (3650 kg/ha) was loos-
ened of soil and inserted with the yellow
standing phytomass. Both grass compo-
nents were approximately interspersed
throughout the tray and were of similar
fresh weights and heights (75 cm). The
spectral response of the yellow and green
mixture was subsequently measured over
the three soils and weathered litter as
discussed above.
A second series of mixtures was de-
signed to simulate emergent green vege-
tation (regrowth) within a senesced grass
canopy. First, 5000 kg/ha of yellow
standing grass was fastened to a tray and
A. R. HUETE AND R. D. JACKSON
radiometric measurements were taken as
before. Then 750 kg/ha and 350 kg/ha
of developing green grass (30 cm height),
transplanted from the Santa Rita site,
were inserted in separate experimental
runs, and the measurements repeated.
The experimental reflectance procedures
for the green and yellow grass mixtures
were analogous to the previous mixtures.
B. In-situ range plots
Spectral measurements were made over
a series of twelve (17×20 m) randomly
seeded, Lehmann lovegrass plots at the
Santa Rita Experimental Range. 2 Mea-
surements were taken on 13 August and
12 September 1985 during the period of
maximum green phytomass levels. The
plot treatments, in triplicate, included a
February burn, June burn, July burn, and
an unburned control. This created a series
of range canopies with differing amounts
of green, senesced, and weathered phyto-
mass densities. The unburned control
plots had maximum amounts of standing
yellow grass, standing gray grass,
weathered litter, and green phytomass.
The February burn plots had similar
amounts of green and yellow phytomass
but very little litter. The June and July
burn treatments had low levels of green
phytomass and trace amounts of yellow
grass and litter. Line transects were used
to harvest the grass material which was
later separated, oven-dried, and weighed. 3
Reflectance factors were calculated as
discussed previously except that an aver-
age of 20 readings within a plot was
ZRadiometric data was provided by Dr. D. F. Post,
University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona.
3Above-ground Biomass was collected and provided
by Dr. J. R. Cox, USDA-ARS, Tucson, Arizona.
SPECTRAL INDICES OF RANGE VEGETATION
ratioed to the response obtained over the
BaSO 4 panel. The dominant soil was a
dark grayish brown, gravelly loamy sand
(sandy, mixed, thermic Typic Tor-
riorthent) which graded into the reddish
Whitehouse series. The solar zenith an-
gles were 36-42 °.
C. Range canopy mixture model
Principal component analysis was util-
ized to extract a green vegetation signal
from composite canopy spectra. Mixture
spectra were first decomposed into a lin-
ear sum of product terms representing
independent ground reflecting features:
n
d,k= ~_, rijCjk, (1)
j=l
where dik is the measured reflectance
factor of range mixture k in waveband i,
n is the number of independent reflect-
ing components in the mixture, rij is the
reflectance of component j in waveband
i, and Cjk is the abundance of component
j in range mixture k. In matrix notation,
Eq. (1) is written as
[ol = [R][c], (2)
where [D] is the experimental canopy
data matrix containing k mixtures in i
wavebands, [R] is the reflectance matrix
(i × n) of the n unique components, and
[C] is the eigenvector matrix containing
the contributions of the canopy con-
stituents.
Abstract eigenspectra, [R]A, and ei-
genvector, [C]A, matrices were first ob-
tained mathematically by solving the ei-
genvalue problem
[Z]o[CIA= [XI[ClA, (3)
217
where [Z]0 is a covariance about the
origin matrix and [X] is a diagonal matrix
of eigenvalues. The eigenvalues are useful
in determining the "dimensionality" or
number of components present in a data
matrix. For each eigenvalue extracted, the
residual standard deviation (RSD) and
factor indicator function (IND) were
calculated to provide a measure of how
well the extracted components account
for the variance in the experimental data
matrix (Malinowski and Howery, 1980):
j = n + l X/
RSD= ; ~ ) (4)
RSD
IND (5)
(c - n)2
where )~ are the eigenvalues being de-
leted and r and c represent the size of
the data matrix with r > c. The IND
reaches a minimum value when the cor-
rect number (n) of components are ex-
tracted. The abstract eigenspeetra matrix
is solved in accordance with Eq. (2):
[ a l A = [ol[cl 1 (6)
The final step was to transform the
mathematically "unique" [R]A and [C]A
matrices into physically based [R] and
[C] component matrices. In this study,
transformation was accomplished through
a least-squares rotation procedure aimed
at satisfying the endmember (single com-
ponent) conditions of a developing plant
canopy. Bare soil, senesced grass, and
dense green grass (7800 kg/ha) spectra
were used to transform the abstract
matrices through the following mathe-
matical operations (Malinowski and
218 A. R. HUETE AND R. D. JACKSON

Howery, 1980): curve shape. The yellowish brown, Super-

stition sand is the brightest soil and con-
[tl] = [n],,[:r], (7) tains a convex spectral curve shape. The
red, Whitehouse sandy clay loam has a
~,= [ x ] - ' [ R ] T
A Rt, (8) sigmoidal spectral signature, and the
Cloversprings loam is the darkest soft with
where [T] is the transformation matrix, Tz a linear curve shape. These three spectral
is a least squares column vector trans- types of soil are representative of the
former for each of the n components, wide variety of softs common to arid
and R t is the associated column vector rangelands.
containing the endmember spectra. A Dense yellow senesced grass (4800
physically based eigenvector matrix was kg/ha; = 95% cover), laid down as litter,
then computed according to was the most reflective (brightest) canopy
component (Fig. 1). The spectral sig-
[c] = [•]-'[c],,. (9) nature of the yellow litter resembled the
Superstition sand, but with a proportion-
A more thorough description of this pro- ally higher NIR reflectance factor and
cedure can be found in Huete (1986a). greater absorption in the blue. This is
most likely a result of the still-intact leaf
Results and Discussion cell structure and persistence of carotene
pigments in senesced vegetation which
The four-band spectral signatures of all causes some leaf reflectance in the NIR
the range canopy components used in and absorption in the blue (Gausman
this study are presented in Fig. 1. The et al., 1976). Dense gray weathered litter
three, bare soil signatures show dif- (2400 kg/ha; = 95% cover), on the other
ferences, mostly in amplitude but also in hand, was much darker than yellow litter

0.6

or" 0.5
YELLOW LITTER

~ 0.4 TITIONSOIL
U.I

L)
S.- ....
W 0.2
d
W ........ i17
~
..... ~ ................."7 .................~LOVERSPR,N~S;~i
SO,~
t I t I
4.5 0.55 0.65 0.75 0.85
WAVELENGTH,/.zm
FIGURE 1. Spectral reflectance factors in four wavebands of the
soil-range canopy components.
SPECTRAL INDICES OF RANGE VEGETATION 219

ryO'4F

W • SUPERSTITION SOIL
(.-) \ • WHITEHOUSE SOIL
Z , ~ • CLOVERSPRINGS SOIL
~l.~ 0.2
\

LM
r'Y" O.I - • . . . ".~..........
" " " • . . . . = ' ~ " - ' " " ' I ............
I,I
or"
I I I I
0 2000 4000 6000 8000
GREEN PHYTOMASSKG/HA
FIGURE 2. Red reflectance [actors ot the Lehmann lovegrass canopy as a
function o| green phytomass density and soil background.

and increased linearly in reflectance green phytomass and soil background are
within the four wavebands (Fig. 1). The shown in Figs. 2 and 3. Red canopy
spectral signature of standing green grass reflectance factors decreased with in-
(7800 kg/ha; > 95% cover) is typical of creasing amounts of green grass, but in a
green vegetation, although compared with manner dependent on the underlying soil.
crop species, the green and NIR peaks There is a steep decrease in reflectance
are less pronounced. factors at low phytomass levels and then
Green grass~soil mixtures: Red and an asymptotic leveling off in response.
NIR spectral responses as a hmction of The red spectral response of the dark

0.4
rv"

~ 0.~ -
r"""
.....=....................... .e ................... ~'-"2 ~ "-'::::::=''.'4
&---''''''''&'J
U.I
IS
Z - ,i I • SUPESSTITION SOIL
~o.2 A/t • WHITEHOUSE SOIL
• CLOVERSPRINGS SOIL
_J
tL.
h-I~0,1
or"
Z
I I I I
200O 4OOO 6OOO 80OO
GREEN PHYTOMASSKG/HA
FIGURE 3. Near-inIrared reflectance factors of the Lehmann lovegrass
canopy as a function of green phytomass density and soil background.
220 A.R. HUETE AND R. D. JACKSON

i
a
_z
Z
_o

W
b.I
,,.,.
> ,'.."f • CLOVERSPRtNGS SOIL
-- " ' " ' ~ • WHITEHOUSE SOIL
_o • "" • SUPERSTITION SOIL

I I I I
2000 4O00 6000 8000
GREEN PHYTOMASSKG/HA
FIGURE 4. RVI response tor the Lehmann lovegrass canopy at different
green phytomass levels and soil backgrounds.

Cloversprings soil/grass canopy, how- asymptote in tall rescue grass (Festuca

ever, was nearly invariant to phytomass arundinacea) to be 2000 kg/ha. These
amounts. For the other two soils, the red differences are possibly due to canopy
asymptote occurred at approximately structure and architectural differences as-
2000 kg/ha. For blue grama grass sociated with the plant species (Jackson
(Bouteloua gracilis), Tucker (1977) re- and Pinter, 1986).
ported a red asymptote of 1200 kg/ha The NIR spectral response of the grass
while Ripple (1985) found the red canopy was also sensitive to soil back-

0.8--

I,I
(O
Z - ..--'...'=."'"" ......
W0.6
n," &B ~ , o, , ° °
LU ##o.o o o.oO ""
LL
u__
C:)
a 0.4
-- t . . ~ S to..:
i"" / • WHITEHOUSE SOIL
OIL

i t .':/ ~ U P E R S T I ~ O N SOIL
IJJ
N # ¢;
._1

:E o.2'
n-
o
Z

I I I I
2000 4000 6000 8000
GREEN PHYTOMASS KG/HA
FIGURE 5. NDVI response for the I.ehmann lovegrass canopy at different
green phytomass levels and soil backgrounds.
SPECTRAL INDICES OF RANGE VEGETATION
ground (Fig. 3). NIR reflectance factors
increased, decreased, or remained nearly
constant with increasing amounts of green
phytomass, depending upon the NIR re-
flectance factor of the underlying soft.
The NIR asymptote occurred at ap-
proximately 2000 kg/ha, which was lower
than the NIR asymptotes (3000-4000
kg/ha) reported by Tucker (1977) and
Ripple (1985) for blue grama and tall
rescue grasses. This was possibly due to
the less leafy and more vertical structure
of Lehmann lovegrass. However, it should
be noted that the range in phytomass
amounts do not represent a developing
(temporal) canopy but, instead, represent
variable densities of mature green grass.
The soft-induced red and NIR in-
fluences exerted on the grass canopy
spectra resulted in a soft brightness effect
on the ratio vegetation index (RVI) (Fig.
4). As previously reported by Colwell
(1973), Elvidge and Lyon (1985), and
Huete et al. (1985), darker soft substrates
produce higher RVI values for equivalent
vegetation amounts. The RVI values were
more sensitive to changes in amount of
20-
X
~1"~-Ii,=
i
Z
ILl
IJJ 0
n."
(,9
. . . . ~ /j6j
"5o
2000
GREEN PHYTOMASS KG/HA
FIGURE 6. Four-band GVI response for the Lehmann iovegrass canopy
at different green phytomass levels and soil backgrounds.
221
green grass at low levels ( < 2000 kg/ha)
than at intermediate levels of phytomass.
The increase in RVI response beyond
6000 k g / h a green phytomass was unex-
pected and appeared to be a result of
slight decreases in red response (Fig. 3).
The NDVI behaved in a similar manner
as the RVI but with increased sensitivity
to green phytomass levels below 2000
k g / h a (Fig 5). However, soft influences
have also been amplified and vegetation
discrimination over variable softs was not
improved. As with the RVI, darker softs
resulted in higher NDVI values for simi-
lar vegetation amounts. NDV! response
over green phytomass levels from 2000 to
6000 k g / h a was more sensitive to softs
than to changes in green vegetation.
The four-band GVI resembled the
NDVI in response sensitivity to soft back-
ground and green phytomass, except that
the soft brightness influence was reversed,
i.e., darker softs produced lower green-
ness responses than brighter softs for
identical vegetation amounts (Fig. 6). This
reversal in soft influences was previously
noted by Huete et al. (1985) over a cot-
...-.;;~. ~ o
• CLOVERSPRINGS SOIL
&
I I I I
40O0 6000 80O0
 A. R. H U E T E A N D R. D. J A C K S O N

7!-- ~ ~ 78OO KG/HA

i
CLOVER-
X SPRINGS WHITEHOUSE SUPERSTITION
6--

~
z_
g
6000

(.9 3650
bJ
>
0 t 1600

nr" ~ ~ _ _ ~ I000

0. I 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5

BARE SOIL NIR REFLECTANCE FACTOR
FIGURE 7. Relationship between RVI response and bare soil NIR
reflectance factor for various levels of Lehmann lovegrass, green
phytomass.

A,OO.D 6000 KG/HA

14- ..o 3650
X o-" . . ~ 16oo
ILl -
C3
Zl0 -
Z -
.0 ............ 0 I000
$1 S
O s
~."

ILl
(.9 / . o . . . .~ ............ a 320 .
I,I
> ,,..-.. - - ~ .... ~ -~ ;,I.
Z A-'"" ~ ,/".....m O , ~
L#,J=
ILl
n."
r,D "
1 1 I I 1 I
20 30 40 50 60 70
SOIL BRIGHTNESS INDEX
F I G U R E 8. Rehtionship between the 4-band GVI and 4-band SBI
for various densitiesof Lehmann lovegrass,differentsoilbackgrounds
and varying amounts of litterand senesced grass. (A--Cloversprings;
0--Whitehouse; O--Superstition; open symbols are soft/green grass
spectra; solid symbols are soil/dead grass spectra; YES is standing
yellow phytomass; YE-L is yellow litter; GR-L is gray litter; numbers
denote densities o| plant material in kg/ha).
SPECTRAL INDICES OF RANGE VEGETATION
ton canopy. In comparison to the NDVI,
soil noise at low levels of green phyto-
mass was slightly greater and there was
less sensitivity to increases in green phy-
tomass at density levels above 2000
kg/ha. An additional soil influence on
vegetation measures, aside from bright-
ness, can be seen with the red Whitehouse
soft at low phytomass densities (Fig. 6).
Reddish soils normally deviate the most
from the soil line and result in higher
greenness values (Kauth and Thomas,
1976; Huete et al., 1984).
In Fig. 7, the RVI response of the grass
canopies are plotted as a function of bare
soil reflectance factor (NIR) for specific
amounts of green phytomass. Although
the RVI is dependent upon the soil back-
ground, this influence appears predict-
able and could be modeled. Note that
there is very little difference between the
RVI of 1000 k g / h a green grass over Su-
perstition sand and bare Cloversprings
loam. At intermediate levels of green
phytomass (1600-6000 kg/ha), soil back-
ground sensitivity increased with the 1600
k g / h a grass over the Cloversprings soil
having the same RVI as 3650 k g / h a grass
over the Superstition sand. Beyond 6000
k g / h a grass, the soil influences become
minimal.
In Fig. 8, the GVI and soil brightness
index (SBI) values are plotted for the
green grass canopies. In general, the
higher the SBI, the greater the GVI for a
constant vegetation amount. As men-
tioned earlier (Fig. 6), the red Whitehouse
soil produced a higher than normal GVI
value. As with the RVI the sensitivity of
the GVI to soil background is greatest at
intermediate levels of green phytomass.
Similar results were obtained with the
PVI, but with less red-soil influence.
223
Litter~soil mixtures: Included in Fig.
8 are the GVI and SBI values of senesced
(yellow), weathered (gray) litter, and yel-
low standing grass placed over each of
the three soils. The soil/litter targets
possess no green phytomass and ideally
would not produce significant GVI val-
ues. The addition of dead grass material,
however, has introduced new sources of
noise relating to green vegetation dis-
crimination. The inclusion of gray litter
to soils resulted in much lower GVI val-
ues. Yellow litter, on the other hand, in-
creased the GVI and SBI values in com-
parison to bare soils. The same quantity
of yellow standing grass had similar GVI
values, but considerably lower SBI values.
The "darker" appearance of standing
grass is a result of architectural influences
with more soil showing, greater shadow-
ing, and increased "trapping" of incom-
ing radiant flux through multiple scatter-
ing. Together, the presence of litter and
senesced grass material significantly al-
tered the spectral behavior of background
soils and has amplified the range of GVI
values not attributed to green grass. Simi-
lar results were found with the PVI, but,
as will be shown later, litter influences
were minimal with the RVI and NDVI.
Live grass / senesced grass mixtures: In
this series of experiments, range canopy
component interactions were studied. The
spectral signatures of the first canopy
mixture over the Cloversprings loam are
shown in Fig. 9. The spectral curve of
interest is the composite response of 6000
k g / h a (75 cm tall), yellow standing grass
mixed with 3650 k g / h a green grass of
similar height. The remaining three curves
(Fig. 9) are of the isolated components,
i.e., bare soil, yellow grass with no green,
and green grass with no yellow (from the
224 A. R. HUETE AND R. D. JACKSON

0.4-

n~

0.3 ¸-- MIXEDCANOPY

,c

-- Y E L L O W ~
LLI
r,...)
Z 0.2

W
_.J
la_ O.I
W
n~
- . . . . . . . . . . . . iiii,
I I I I
45 0.55 0.65 0.75 0.85
WAVELENGTH,/zm
FIGURE 9. Spectral response curves for a mixed (green + yellow) grass
canopy and its associated components over the Cloversprings loam soil.
Mixed canopy = 6000 kg,/ha senesc~d grass and 3600 k g / h a green grass;
green canopy = 3650 k g / h a green grass with no yellow; and yellow
canopy = 6000 kg//ha senesced grass with no green.

first set of experiments). Thus, the ad- the GVI of approximately 3600 k g / h a
dition of these three curves, in some lin- green grass could vary from 8 to 13 units,
ear combination, should produce the depending upon the soil background and
composite canopy response curve. Note presence of litter and senesced vegeta-
that the greatest variation among the tion.
vegetated spectral curves occurred in the The four curves at the bottom of Fig.
red waveband. There is little variation in 10 represent variations in the GVI attri-
the NIR among the vegetated mixtures as buted to soil, litter, and senesced grass
all targets had nearly equal NIR reflec- without the presence of green vegetation.
tance factors. The GVI varied from - 3 units (gray
The spectral response values in Fig. 9, litter and soil) to 4 units (yellow phyto-
along with those for the other soil back- mass) for a total range of 7 units. This
grounds and litter, were inserted into the "noise" range is more than half the maxi-
GVI equation and plotted against bare m u m greenness signal of 3650 k g / h a
soil background response (Fig. 10). The green grass. The curves in Fig. 10 do
bare soil NIR reflectance factor was used show that the green grass targets were
only to separate out the three soil types. discriminable from the nongreen targets,
The GVI of 3650 kg//ha green grass is regardless of soil, litter, or senesced grass
approximately 12, depending on soil influences. However, the level of green
background. The mixture of 3600 k g / h a grass used was nearly twice that normally
green grass with 6000 k g / h a yellow encountered over arid rangelands.
standing grass, resulted in a GVI of only The same general influences were ob-
9 units. This is further lowered with the served when the RVI was used as the
inclusion of the gray litter (8 units). Thus, greenness measure (Fig. 11). The pres-
SPECTRAL INDICES OF RANGE VEGETATION 225

16 B

CLOVER-
SPRINGS WHITEHOUSE SUPERSTITION
GREENCANOPY

Z p.- -.>_ GRN/YELCANOPY

0 ~'~,~.--------'~ GRN/YEL/GRAYCANOPY

ILl
L•I04
> ~ YELLOWCANOPY
YELLOW/GRAYCAN0PY

BARESOIL
(.9 • • GRAYLITTER
I I I I
02 0.3 0.4 0.5
BARE SOIL NIR REFLECTANCE FACTOR
FIGURE 10. Relationship between the 4-band GVI and bare soft NIR
reflectance factor for a mixed (green + yellow + gray) grass canopy and its
associated components. The canopy components consist of 3600 kg/ha
green, 6000 k g / h a yellow, and 1040 kg/ha gray litter material (open
symbols denote the presence of green grass).

5--
CLOVER"
SPRINGS WHITEHOUSE SUPERSTITION

Z
GREENCANOPY
Z
o3 0 D GRN/YELCANOPY
- P"- ~ ' ~ GRN/YELIGRAY
CANOPY

(92-
hi
> ~ • YELLOWCANOPY
- ~ GRAYLITTER
BARESOIL

I I I I
0.2 0.:5 0.4 0.5
BARE SOIL NIR REFLECTANCE FACTOR
FIGURE 11. Relationship between the RVI response and bare soil NIR
reflectance factor for a mixed (green + yellow + gray) grass canopy and
its associated components. (See Fig. 10 for the canopy component
weights; open symbols denote the presence of green grass).
226 A . R . H U E T E AND R. D. JACKSON

0.4 -

~0.3

MIXED CANOPY
W

/... ...- GREE)CANOPY

(..)
Z 02 - YELLOWCANOPY _,~'" /'"
.
.........'-""
....

UJ
...I
1.1_ 0.1
//I"
W
rr

I 1 i I
,r5 0.55 o.r,5 0.75 0.85
WAVELENGTH,/.~m
FIGURE 12. Spectral response curves for senesc~d grass canopy with
emerging green grass over the Cloversprings loam. Mixed canopy = 5000
k g / h a senesced grass (75 cm tall) and 750 k g / h a of green grass (30 cm
tall); green canopy = 1000 kg/qm grass; yellow canopy = 5000 kg/ha.

ence of yellow phytomass and gray litter
lowered the RVI response of green grass.
The ratio fell from an average of 4 to 3
units with the presence of litter or
senesced grass material. This influence
was most severe with the darker Clover-
springs soil. In comparison to the GVI,
the noise presented by targets with no
green grass was considerably reduced.
The RVI effectively normalized the litter
and senesced components of canopies de-
void of green vegetation. Although the
nongreen mixtures were separable from
the green grass mixtures, the difference
in values (1.5 vs. 3) was rather small for a
level of green phytomass nearly twice
that achieved over arid rangelands.
The last artificial canopy mixture in-
volved 750 k g / h a and 350 k g / h a of
emerging green grass (30 cm tall) placed
inside 5000 k g / h a (75 cm tall) yellow,
senesced grass (Fig. 12). This situation is
prevalent over arid rangelands throughout
most of the year when only stems and
lower leaves remain green. The upper
two curves in Fig. 12 show .the close
similarity between the yellow senesced
grass and the yellow + green canopy. Ap-
parently, the signal from the underlying
green grass barely emerges out of the
canopy. The spectral response of a similar
amount of green grass (1000 kg/ha) with
no senesced vegetation is shown for com-
parison. The vegetation indices were sim-
ilarly insensitive to the underlying green
vegetation, although the RVI response did
increase from 1.4 to 1.5. Not shown is the
spectral signature of the 350 k g / h a green
grass, which fell in between the two up-
per curves.
Despite the sensitivity of the various
spectral indices to soil, litter, and senesced
plant material, there were still fairly good
correlations between these indices and
green phytomass when all artificial mix-
tures were combined into a single data
set (Table 1). Correlation coefficients
ranged from 0.86 (GVI) to 0.89 (NDVI).
The relationship, however, varied with
the type of soil background and the pres-
SPECTRAL INDICES OF RANGE VEGETATION 227

TABLE 1 Correlation Coefficients (r) between the Spectral Indices and Green Phyto-
mass (kg/ha) for the Controlled and Santa Rita Experimental Range Experiments
CONTROLLED SANTA RITA SANTA RITA
Mzx'rta~s BtraN PLOTS PASTLVR~
(SEvEN-BAND)
RVI 0.88 0.48 0.53
NDVI 0.89 0.48 0.11
PVI 0.88 - 0.32 0.56
GVI 0.86 - 0.40 0.76
PCA 0.86 0.92
n =42 n =24 n =24
Green phytomass
range (kg/ha) 0-3650 260-1330 470-1400

ence of litter and senesced grass (Fig. 13).
The relationship between the RVI and
green phytomass was more sensitive
(higher slopes) in grass-soil canopies de-
void of litter and senesced vegetation.
This sensitivity was greater with darker
soils. With brighter softs or with the pres-
ence of non-green phytomass, the slope
(sensitivity) of the RVI vs. green phyto-
mass plot decreased.
Also shown in Fig. 13 is a significant
improvement in the correlation coeffi-
cient (r = 0.984) when all canopy targets
possessed a similar degree of senesced
vegetation (5000-6000 k g / h a yellow
grass). One might expect this line to shift
toward the soils with lower amounts of
senesced vegetation.
In-situ range plots: Figure 14 shows
the average spectral response curves ob-
tained over the four bum treatments at
the Santa Rita Experimental Range. There
was little relation between green phyto-
mass levels and the spectral curves. The
spectral signature of the control (un-
burned) area had a lower amplitude than
the burned areas due to the presence of
much weathered (gray) material. All three
burned areas had similar signatures even
though the green phytomass from the

5 r- • CLOVERSPRINGS SOIL
X / • WHITEHOUSE SOIL
/ • SUPERSTITION SOIL • i
Z~41- /fqr"

(,.9 - ~ ~ - - ~ RSO~L--0.927
~` ~ . - - B ' ' - ' " R , L L =0.878
.... RUTTER =0.984
_ol! -

n,,"
I I I I
0 1000 2000 5000 4000
GREEN P H Y T O M A S S K G / H A
FIGURE 13. Relationship between RVI response and green grass phytoraass
for all controlled range canopy mixtures. Rs~1 represents green grass/soil
spectra; Rlitter includes the presence of litter and senesced grass.
228
0.3- SANTA RITAS,AUGUST
1985
n-
O
FEBRUARYBURN(1266~""~i;
I--
L)
0.2-
~
Ld
C)
Z 0L11330)
LLI 0.1 -
..-I
U_
W
n~
I I
°o45 o.55 0.65
WAVELENGTH,/~m
FIGURE 14. Spectral response curves for the Lehmann lovegrass burn
treatments at the Santa Rita Experimental Range. Numbers denote
amount of green phytomass in kg/ha.
February burn (1266 kg/ha) was much
greater than those from June or july (260
and 300 kg/ha, respectively). This may
be caused by the dampening influence of
the yellow senesced material in the
February burn treatment. The RVI re-
sponse of the four treatments only varied
from 1.7 to 1.9 and the NDVI from 0.27
to 0.31.
In agreement with the results of the
controlled experiments, the varying
amounts of gray and yellow material had
little influence on these two indices at
low green phytomass conditions (Figs. 11
and 13). The PVI and GVI, on the other
hand, were sensitive to the canopy com-
ponents with low green grass amounts.
The GVI of the June burn, February
burn, and July burn were 4.0, 3.8, and
2.6, respectively. The control plot had a
lower GVI of 1.0, despite having the
highest green phytomass. The PVI be-
haved similarly. Both were especially sen-
sitive to litter and gray standing grass.
The correlation coefficients between
A. R. H U E T E AND R. D. JACKSON
JUNEBURN(260)
BURN(300)
I I
o.r5 0.85
green phytomass levels and spectral in-
dices for all plots were poor and in some
cases negative (Table 1). The PVI and
GVI had negative correlations due to the
influence of the gray plant material. Al-
though these results represent controlled
burn treatments, one might expect
comparable situations over rangelands
with rotating or seasonal grazing pat-
terns. Different grazing schemes would
similarly create varying live/senesced
grass/litter compositions.
Principal component analysis: In this
section we examine whether principal
component analysis can be applied to
range canopy spectra in order to extract a
green signal and improve green phyto-
mass assessment. Mathematical decom-
position of the range canopy mixhtres
created in the controlled experiments with
different soils, and varying amounts of
gray, yellow, and green phytomass re-
suited in only a two-component model
(Table 2) that accounted for 99.86% of
the data variance. The indicator function
SPECTRAL INDICES OF RANGE VEGETATION 229

TABLE 2 Eigenvalues and Error Analysis from the De-

composition of 42 Range Canopy Mixtures
RSD a
Em~v~vE % V~.m~cE (+ ) IND b
59685.98 97.565 3.44 .3820
1403.13 2.294 1.01 .2534
61.94 0.100 0.78 0.7751
25.22 0.041 -- --

'~Residual standard deviation.

Indicator function.

TABLE 3 Eigenspectra Values for the 42 Range Canopy Mixtures

WAVV~AND(~m)
COMPONENT 0.45--0.52 0.52--0.60 0.63--0.69 0.76--0.90
1 56.8 93.0 115.0 186.0
2 -- 11.8 -- 13.4 -- 22.4 24.1

(IND) reaches a minimum value when
the correct number of components are
extracted. The residual error tells us that
from this two-component model, one can
reproduce the four-band experimental
data set to within +__1.01% reflectance. A
third component would improve data re-
generation to + 0.78% reflectance, but at
the expense of additional error and ex-
perimental uncertainty.
The eigenspectra of the two unique
components are shown in Table 3. Al-
though these spectra are mathematically
abstract, one can recognize them to be 1)
soil or litter and 2) green vegetation. The
first eigenspectrum continuously rises
with increasing wavelength and thus
could represent soil, litter, or some
combination of these. The second eigen-
spectrum resembles green vegetation be-
cause of the sudden increase in values
between the red and NIR wavebands.
There is no noticeable green peak, but
there is a low red response. The three
negative values may indicate that these
are absorption wavebands for the compo-
nent being represented. Utilizing the yel-
low litter and green grass spectra from
Fig. 1 as test vectors, the abstract solu-
tion was transformed to a real one with
physical interpretation. This rotation
created a greenness index based on the
spectral signature of dense green grass.
Despite the ability to extract the green
signal, there was no improvement in
correlation between the resulting eigen-
vector contributions of the green compo-
nent and green phytomass (Table 1).
These may be due to the inability of a
two-component model to account for all
ground-reflecting features. This problem
may be a result of a lack of wavebands to
characterize a complex range canopy.
Mathematically, one cannot extract more
components than there are wavebands to
characterize the canopy unless multiple
view and illumination angles are used.
Summary and Conclusions
In general, there was a fairly good rela-
tionship between green phytomass and
23O
the various spectral indices even with
large variations in soft background and
senesced/dead plant material. However,
there were two major influences which
rendered these spectral indices unreliable
over arid rangelands. First, there were
background sources of error attributed to
soils and litter. These influences estab-
lished a lower threshold limit on green
vegetation detection. With the PVI and
GVI, red bare soils and yellow litter
caused large index values while gray litter
induced very low values. The background
noise range encountered with the GVI
was 58% of the signal produced by 3650
k g / h a green grass. Such noise variations,
on the other hand, were minimal with the
RVI and NDVI.
Another source of variation associated
with range canopy backgrounds was the
soft brightness influence which caused
vegetation index values over incomplete
canopies to change as a result of the
reflectance factor of the underlying soft.
Lighter colored soils produced higher PVI
and GVI values, but lower RVI and NDVI
values in similar plant canopies. Similar
brightness effects were encountered with
gray (dark) and yellow (light) litter.
Brightness effects were most pronounced
over intermediate canopy covers and de-
creased in intensity at both very low and
nearly flail canopy covers. These in-
fluences were a result of downward
scattered flux from green plants reflected
back upwards by the underlying soft. The
amount of soft-reflected flux was wave-
band-dependent and was related to the
reflectance properties of the soft.
The second major influence inhibiting
reliable green phytomass assessment in
range canopies may be described as a
medium effect associated with standing
senesced vegetation. The presence of yel-
A. R. HUETE AND R. D. JACKSON
low standing grass with green phytomass
reduced the greenness signal of all spec-
tral indices by 20-33%. The senesced
phytomass interfered with green phyto-
mass detection in two ways. First, the
intensity of radiant flux striking the green
component was reduced as the senesced
grass shaded part of the green grass at
most sun angle conditions. As was shown
in Fig. 12, this problem was most severe
when emergent green grass was occluded
by a taller senesced grass stand from a
previous year's growth. The green with
yellow canopy spectra was identical to
the yellow canopy spectra (Fig. 12).
Secondly, many grass species form erec-
tophfte canopies whereby much of the
reflected energy is not scattered upward
but instead is trapped within the canopy.
Our data suggest that green scattered flux
trapping will increase with increasing
senescent vegetation. Sellers (1985) simi-
larly found the presence of small amounts
of dead biomass to considerably reduce
the NDVI and RVI values. Thus, if the
emergent flux from a canopy is partly
devoid of green-grass reflected energy,
then spectral indices won't be able to
detect the "trapped" green vegetation
signal. Also, principal component analysis
cannot extract a green grass signal that
does not emerge out from the canopy and
irradiate the sensor.
The in situ experiments validated the
above conclusions and demonstrated how
unreliable spectral indices were for dis-
criminating green vegetation in arid re-
gions. Poor correlations were obtained
between green phytomass and the spec-
tral indices due to high index sensitivities
toward background and canopy composi-
tion effects. The PVI and GVI values
obtained over the Santa Rita Experimen-
tal Range burn plots were negatively cor-
SPECTRAL INDICES OF RANGE VEGETATION
related with green phytomass due to the
influence of gray grass standing phyto-
mass. The canopy composition (medium)
influences pose the most problems to
rangelands since grass canopies are highly
dynamic systems with nonuniform de-
composition and consumption/grazing
patterns.
Principal component analysis was able
to extract a green vegetation signal from
complex range canopy spectra. However,
the assessment of the green signal amount
in each canopy mixture did not yield
better results than the spectral indices.
This was due to the dampening of the
green signal by senesced vegetation as
well as to the limited number of wave-
bands utilized in this study. We an-
ticipate improved green phytomass as-
sessment with the addition of more
wavebands. Complex range canopy spec-
tra may contain as many as four to six
unique reflecting components. This will
require twice as many wavebands in order
to utilize principal component analysis in
range canopy mixture models. Some evi-
dence for this was found with seven
waveband ground spectral data obtained
over one pasture at the Santa Rita Ex-
periment',d Range (Huete, 1986b). Ex-
traction of the green signal with principal
c o m p o n e n t analysis significantly im-
proved green phytomass assessment (r =
0.92) in comparison with spectral indices
(Table 1).
References
Colwell, J. E. (1973), Bidirectional spectral
reflectance of grass canopies for determina-
tion of above ground standing biomass,
Ph.D. dissertation, Univ. of Michigan, Ann
Arbor.
Colwell, J. E. (1974), Vegetation canopy re-
231
flectance, Remote Sens. Environ.
3:175-183.
Elvidge, C. D., and Lyon, R. J. P. (1985),
Influence of rock-soil spectral variation on
the assessment of green biomass, Remote
Sens. Environ. 17:265-279.
Gausman, H. W., Rodriguez, R. R., and
Richardson, A. J. (1976), Infinite reflec-
tance of dead compared with live vegeta-
tion, Agron. I. 68:295-296.
Heilman, J. L., and Boyd, W. E. (1986), Soil
background effects on the spectral response
of a three-component rangeland scene, Re-
mote Sens. Environ. 19:127-137.
Huete, A. R. (1986a), Separation of soil-plant
spectral mixtures by factor analysis, Re-
mote Sens. Environ. 19:237-251.
Huete, A. R. (1986b), Soil spectral filtering
for improved biomass assessment in arid
ecosystems, In Proc. Arid Lands: Today
and Tomorrow, Tucson, AZ, 20-25 Oct.
1985.
Huete, A. R., Post, D. F., and Jackson, R. D.
(1984), Soil spectra/ effects on 4-space
vegetation discrimination, Remote Sens.
Environ. 15:155-165.
Huete, A. R., Jackson, R. D., and Post, D. F.
(1985), Spectral response of a plant canopy
with different soil backgrounds, Remote
Sens. Environ. 17:37-53.
Jackson, R. D. (1983), Spectral indices in n-
space, Remote Sens. Environ. 13:409-421.
Jackson, R. D., and Pinter, P. J., Jr. (1986),
Spectral response of architecturally differ-
ent wheat canopies, Remote Sens. Environ.
20:43-56.
Jackson, R. D., Pinter, P. J., Jr., Reginato,
R. J., and Idso, S. B. (1980), Handheld
radiometry, Agricultural Reviews and Man-
uals W-19, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Sci-
ence and Education Admin., Oakland, CA,
66 pp.
Kauth, R. J., and Thomas, G. S. (1976), The
Tasseled C a p w a graphic description of the
spectral-temporal development of agricul-
232
tural crops as seen by Landsat, Proc. Symp.
on Machine Processing of Remotely Sensed
Data, Purdue University, West Lafayette,
IN, pp. 41-51.
Malinowski, E. R., and Howery, D. G. (1980),
Factor Analysis in Chemistry, Wiley, New
York, 251 pp.
Pearson, R. L., Tucker, C. J., and Miller,
L. D. (1976), Spectral mapping of short
grass prairie biomass, Photogramm. Eng.
Remote Sens. 42:317-324.
Richardson, A. J., and Wiegand, C. L. (1977),
Distinguishing vegetation from soil back-
ground information, Photogramm. Eng.
Remote Sens. 43:1541-1552.
Ripple, W. J. (1985), Asymptotic reflectance
characteristics of grass vegetation, Photo-
gramm. Eng. Remote Sens. 51:1915-1921.
Sellers, P. J. (1985), Canopy reflectance, pho-
tosynthesis and transpiration, Int. J. Re-
mote Sens. 6:1335-1372.
A. R. HUETE AND R. D. JACKSON
Tucker, C. J. (1977), Asymptotic nature of
grass canopy spectral reflectance, Appl.
Opt. 6:1151-1156.
Tucker, C. J. (1979), Red and photographic
infrared linear combinations for monitoring
vegetation, Remote Sens. Environ.
8:127-150.
Tucker, C. J., and Miller, L. D. (1977), Soil
spectra contributions to grass canopy spec-
tral reflectance, Photogramm. Eng. Re-
mote Sens. 43:721-726.
Weiser, R. L., Asrar, G., Miller, G. P., and
Kanemasu, E. T. (1984), Assessing grass-
land biophysical characteristics from spec-
tral measurements, Proc. Tenth Int. Symp.
Mach. Process. Remote Sens. Data, Purdue
University, West Lafayette, IN, pp.
357-361.
Received 10 September1986;revised121anuary1987
PLATE I. The normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data [or Africa north of the equator for the months
of August-September 1984-1986. The maximum NDVI value was selected for each grid cell element from daily
4-kin AVHRR data for these 2 months. The NDVI data is an estimate of the intercepted photosynthetically active
radiation that Sellers (1985) has reported represents the photosynthetic capacity. The year 1984 was one of severe
drought in sub-Saharan Africa; 1985 and 1986 had much greater precipitation.
PLATE I1. Difference images formed ITom subtracting the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data
from 1984 (see Fig. lb) from first 1985 (Fig. la) and then 1988 (Fig. lc) data. The intensity of the cream and green
tones (see color scale) is proportional to the magnitude of the photosynthetic capacity differences between the years
presented in Fig. 1. Because 1984 was such a deficient year in terms of precipitation and, hence, subsequent green
vegetation development, 1984 had lower NDVI values for almost every grid cell when compared to 1985 and 1986.
Note that some areas were markedly different, whereas other areas showed minor or no differences.
 PLATE HI. False color composite (bands 1,4,
and 6) of Landsat thematic mapper data of
Plutonium Valley, Nevada.

PLATE IV. Mean annual soil temperature image of East Central

Utah derived from heat capacity mapping mission data.
PLATE V. Decorrelated bands 1, 2, and 3 simulated SPOT data of Kim-me-ni-oli Valley, New Mexico.
PLATE VI. A decorr~tion stretch/mage o~TIMS channels 1,3, andSover the Saline Valley of California.
 a c d

PLATE VII. Results of a maximum likelihood

classification of MS and Landsat TM data developed from
unsupervised clustering.
Figures 4a-d show the classification based on the first PC of three AIS 8-bandsequences
(data shown in Table 3) of MS data of October1984(a)8-class, (b) 17-class, (c) 51-class mapsand May 1985
(d) 99-class map, respectively.
Figure 4e shows asimilar
result in a45-class map using the six nonthermal
TM bands
froma somewhat larger fan region. Fibmre 4tshows acomparable ll-class map when only the two SWIR TM bands
(TM5 and TMT) were used. Figure 4g shows a color-infixed aerial photo ofthestudy area. The TM scene was
obtained one week beforeacquisition of the May AIS data. All maps except(a ffi 1.50) and (c = 0.375) use
sdis = 0.75.
PLATE VIII. Color-/nbared v/deo composite images of an hnproved tmffelgmss r a n p (A), heavily grazed range (B), and severely eroded native range (C).
Imagery was obtained at an altitude of 1~00 m.
(a) 1982 !

(b)

(C) .....

PLATE IX. (a) Caleareol~ [dJainx: density sliced RAT57 image of Site 1. (Red represents the brightest reflectance
class, yellow and green intermediate reflectance, and purple the lowest reflectance class. (b) Gibber tableland:
density sliced RAT57 image o| site 29. (e) Inert sites: demity sliced RAT57 image of Site 33.