Chapter 2
Green Leaf Area and Fraction
of Photosynthetically Active Radiation
Absorbed by Vegetation
Sangram Ganguly, Ramakrishna R. Nemani, Frederic Baret, Jian Bi,
Marie Weiss, Gong Zhang, Cristina Milesi, Hirofumi Hashimoto,
Arindam Samanta, Aleixandre Verger, Kumaresh Singh and Ranga
B. Myneni
Abstract Leaf Area Index (LAI), the area of leaves per unit ground area, and the
Fraction of Photosynthetically Active Radiation (FPAR; 400–700 nm) absorbed
by vegetation are important biophysical variables for quantifying the cycling of
water, carbon and nutrients through ecosystems. The LAI/FPAR products from the
Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR), the Moderate Resolution
Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor and the Système Pour l’Observation
de la Terre (SPOT) sensor have a large Earth science community user base and the
ease of access, provision of pixel quality and validation information have greatly
aided the use of these products. Recent research efforts focusing on inter-sensor
product consistencies have developed a foundation upon which mature algorithms
and a validation framework can act synergistically to further refine the accuracy
and precision of these existing long-term products. This chapter provides a brief
S. Ganguly (&) Á G. Zhang
Bay Area Environmental Research Institute (BAERI)/NASA Ames Research Center,
Moffett Field, CA, USA
e-mail: sangramganguly@gmail.com
J. Bi Á R. B. Myneni
Department of Earth and Environment, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA
R. R. Nemani
NASA Advanced Supercomputing Division, Moffett Field, CA, USA
F. Baret Á M. Weiss Á A. Verger
INRA-EMMAH, Avignon, France
C. Milesi Á H. Hashimoto
Department of Science and Environmental Policy, California State University at Monterey
Bay/NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, USA
A. Samanta
Atmospheric and Environmental Research (AER) Inc., Lexington, MA, USA
K. Singh
Risk Management Solutions, Newark, CA, USA
J. M. Hanes (ed.), Biophysical Applications of Satellite Remote Sensing,
Springer Remote Sensing/Photogrammetry, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-25047-7_2,
Ó Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014
43
Green Leaf Area and Fraction
of Photosynthetically Active Radiation
Absorbed by Vegetation
Sangram Ganguly, Ramakrishna R. Nemani, Frederic Baret, Jian Bi,
Marie Weiss, Gong Zhang, Cristina Milesi, Hirofumi Hashimoto,
Arindam Samanta, Aleixandre Verger, Kumaresh Singh and Ranga
B. Myneni
Abstract Leaf Area Index (LAI), the area of leaves per unit ground area, and the
Fraction of Photosynthetically Active Radiation (FPAR; 400–700 nm) absorbed
by vegetation are important biophysical variables for quantifying the cycling of
water, carbon and nutrients through ecosystems. The LAI/FPAR products from the
Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR), the Moderate Resolution
Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor and the Système Pour l’Observation
de la Terre (SPOT) sensor have a large Earth science community user base and the
ease of access, provision of pixel quality and validation information have greatly
aided the use of these products. Recent research efforts focusing on inter-sensor
product consistencies have developed a foundation upon which mature algorithms
and a validation framework can act synergistically to further refine the accuracy
and precision of these existing long-term products. This chapter provides a brief
S. Ganguly (&) Á G. Zhang
Bay Area Environmental Research Institute (BAERI)/NASA Ames Research Center,
Moffett Field, CA, USA
e-mail: sangramganguly@gmail.com
J. Bi Á R. B. Myneni
Department of Earth and Environment, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA
R. R. Nemani
NASA Advanced Supercomputing Division, Moffett Field, CA, USA
F. Baret Á M. Weiss Á A. Verger
INRA-EMMAH, Avignon, France
C. Milesi Á H. Hashimoto
Department of Science and Environmental Policy, California State University at Monterey
Bay/NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, USA
A. Samanta
Atmospheric and Environmental Research (AER) Inc., Lexington, MA, USA
K. Singh
Risk Management Solutions, Newark, CA, USA
J. M. Hanes (ed.), Biophysical Applications of Satellite Remote Sensing,
Springer Remote Sensing/Photogrammetry, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-25047-7_2,
Ó Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014
43