Improving the estimation of leaf area index by using remotely sensed NDVI with BRDF signatures

A new vegetation index, the Normalized Hotspot-signature Vegetation Index (NHVI), is proposed for a better quantitative estimation of leaf area index (LAI) than with the remotely sensed normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), especially in the boreal forest. To obtain this new index, the Hotspot–Dark-spot index (HDS) (Lacaze et al., 2002) was introduced. HDS is calculated by the difference between the strongest vector (hotspot) and the weakest vector (dark-spot) of bi-directional reflectance, a given tract of vegetation returns in the reflecting solar position, and the geometric structure of the vegetation canopy, which are poorly represented by NDVI alone. The validity of NHVI was statistically tested using two field data sets of multi-angular observations and LAI from the boreal forests of Canada; one set was our own observations, and the other was from the Boreal Ecosystem–Atmosphere Study (BOREAS). The range of linear correspondence of NHVI with LAI is much wider than that of NDVI alone, indicating significant representation of leaf biomass in the canopy geometry captured by HDS. With the technical innovation of multi-angular remote-sensing and kernel-driven models in the future, this index has the potential to provide a more accurate evaluation of regional and global LAIs.