Grant: Research Tools and Instruments - Category 1 (<$150,000)

The increasingly numerous and diverse Earth observation satellite systems can contribute information of significant value, provided developments in the physical underpinnings keep pace.  A major challenge with these systems is to ensure that similar measurements by different sensor systems under different observational conditions yield physically consistent and accurate geophysical and biophysical data.  The research addressed here considers whether there exists a unique relationship between vegetation canopy architecture and the canopy's reflectance as a function of observation angle.  Digital imaging spectrometers will be used at ground level to acquire high-spatial-resolution spectral image data as a function of angle over crop canopies in order to investigate at what spatial scale the angular signatures reach those observed by a satellite imaging sensor.  The research is designed to improve canopy reflectance models used with satellite image data in operational crop monitoring.  The proof-of-concept research will be carried out for potatoes and sugar beets in Southern Alberta.  Overall, the proposed research is intended to improve the accuracies of change detection in resource monitoring applications and guide the directions of new remote sensing research efforts.