BRDF Applications in Semiarid Grassland Monitoring with the AVHRRs



Summary of the Roujean et al (1992a) BRDF Model

Full details of the derivation of the BRDF model are given in Roujean et al (1992a). Briefly, it is expressed as


where R is the bidirectional reflectance in a given channel for the solar zenith, view zenith and relative azimuth angles respectively. f1 and f2 are simple analytic functions of the solar and viewing angles; specifically, f1 accounts for the geometric scattering and shadowing component (neglecting mutual shadowing of protrusions from the surface) and is expressed as


while f2 accounts for the volume scattering component from an infinite discrete medium of randomly-located facets, assuming the single scattering approximation and an isotropic facet distribution function. It is expressed as


where E is the phase or scattering angle, related to conventional angles by


In the derivation of the model the surface parameters are dependent on the three-dimensional structure and optical properties of a canopy and its background. Specifically, k0 represents the bidirectional reflectance viewing a (possibly heterogeneous) surface at nadir with the overhead sun (sun zenith = view zenith = 0), while k1 and k2 measure the relative contributions of the geometric/shadowing and volume scattering components in total reflectance, respectively. Thus k1 should be a function of the three-dimensional structure of a canopy while k2 is a function of facet reflectance and facet area index:


where h and l are the height and length of surface protrusions, S is the horizontal surface associated with each protrusion, r is facet reflectance, F is facet area index (LAI), alpha is a fraction of total background and protrusion reflectance and b is a constant which represents a rough average of (1/2) / (cos(sunzen) + cos(viewzen)).


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