Remote Sensing of Soil Properties in the Santa Monica Mountains I. Spectral Analysis

AVIRIS (Advanced Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer) bands were simulated from laboratory spectra to test their performance in analyzing soil properties from a semiarid region. Multivariate analysis, specifically principal component analysis and canonical discriminant analysis, as well as band depth analysis were applied to study the effect of organic matter, iron content, and texture in a set of samples from two valleys in the Santa Monica Mountains Recreation Area, California. Results showed that total iron and organic matter content were the main factors affecting spectral shape, although sand content significantly affected the spectral contrast of the absorption features. It was shown as well that the elimination of the atmospheric water bands from the analysis did not strongly affect the retrieval of spectral information related to these properties.