GEOG3610 Remote Sensing and Image Interpretation

Spectral Signatures and Their

Interpretation

Spectral Signatures and

Their Interpretation

Copyright, 1998-2013 Qiming Zhou

EMR and earth materials interaction

Spectra of earth materials
Multispectral images and their
interpretation

GEOG3610 Remote Sensing and Image Interpretation

EMR and earth materials

interaction

Spectra of earth materials

When EMR from the sun reaches the

earth surface, it is

Vegetation
Soil and rocks
Water, ice and snow
Cloud, fire and smoke

transmitted - transmittance
absorbed - absorbance
reflected - reflectance

The nature of how the earth materials

transmit, absorb or reflect the solar
EMR is called spectral signature of an
object.
3

Spectral Signatures and Their Interpretation

GEOG3610 Remote Sensing and Image Interpretation

Vegetation

Physiological factors

Contains water, cellulose (tissues and fibres),

lignin (non-carbohydrate constituent of wood),
nitrogen, chlorophyll (green pigments) and
anthocyanin (water-soluble pigments).
Depending on how active (i.e. kinds of
chlorophyll) a green vegetation is, the
combination of transmittance, absorbance and
reflectance vary in different bands of the
spectrum.

Leaf structure
Reflectance, transmittance, and
absorptance spectra
Leaf maturation
Mesophyll arrangements (internal
structural differences)

Transmittance, absorbance
and reflectance

Leaf structure

Fractions of
the total light
incident on
the upper
surface of a
mature
orange leaf
that is
reflected,
absorbed and
transmitted.

A leafs structure and

its reflectance
characteristics at
visible and near IR
wavelengths.

Spectral Signatures and Their Interpretation

GEOG3610 Remote Sensing and Image Interpretation

Absorption
spectra

Spectral
reflectance

Absorption
spectra of
chlorophyll a
(blue-green)
and chlorophyll
b (yellowgreen).

Average spectralresponse curves for

six materials.

Spectral reflectance

10

Other factors

(cont.)

Below: Average spectral-response curves

for four types of vegetation
Right: Average spectral-response curves for
a plant leaf as it progresses from a healthy
state through different stages of damage.

Leaf damage;
Sun and shaded leaves;
Leaf water content;
Leaf air spaces; and
Salinity and nutrient levels.

11

Spectral Signatures and Their Interpretation

12

GEOG3610 Remote Sensing and Image Interpretation

Vegetation canopy

Soil and rocks

Transmittance of leaves;
Amount and arrangement of leaves;
Characteristics of, e.g., stalks, trunks, limbs,
etc.;
Background (soil, leave litter, etc.);
Solar zenith angle;
Look angle; and
Azimuth angle.

The reflectance from soil and rocks is

influenced by:
colour
mineral contents (chemical composition
or crystalline structure)
structure
and others

We use soil for discussion

13

Factors influencing interpretation

of soils

Field reflectance spectra

packed

Soil colour
Mineral content - depends upon the
intermolecular vibration of the
molecules
Organic matter - influences soil colour
and moisture
Particle size - reflectance and thermal
diffusivity, and moisture.

ploughed

Field reflectance spectra of green

grass, dead grass, Virginia Pine,
Scarlet Oak, packed bare soil and
ploughed soil with cobbles.

Spectral Signatures and Their Interpretation

14

15

16

GEOG3610 Remote Sensing and Image Interpretation

Factors influencing interpretation

of soils

Reflectance
of minerals

(cont.)

Soil texture - mainly indirect effects on,

e.g., soil moisture.
Structure and surface roughness (soil
aggregation) - "smoothness" of soil - have
significant effects on RADAR response.
Soil emissivity - thermal emissivity: ratio of
energy radiated at the surface / black body
Soil temperature - influences the
interpretation of thermal imagery and time
of sensing.

Directional hemispherical
reflectance spectra in the
0.4-2.5m wavelength region
and biconical reflectance
spectra in the 2-25m
wavelength region of two
clay minerals: kaolinite and
montmorillonite.

17

Reflectance from soils

Water, ice and snow

O2 and CO2 and water vapour absorption;

Sun illumination varies with atmospheric
conditions and solar radiation
Effects of soil structure, surface roughness,
etc.
The intensity of the sun peaks at about 0.5m
falling off rapidly at shorter and longer
wavelengths.

Water
visible transmittance is high
high absorptance in NIR
influenced by the cleanness

Snow
high reflectance in < 1.5m
low at 1.5 and 2m
very low in the thermal IR
19

Spectral Signatures and Their Interpretation

18

20

GEOG3610 Remote Sensing and Image Interpretation

Reflectance
of ocean
water

Reflectance
of snow

Calculated change in
bulk reflectance of
ocean water with
increasing
concentration of
phytoplankton.

Computed reflectance
spectra of three different
textures of snow (coarse,
fine, and frost) for (a) the
0.3-3.0m wavelength
region, (b) the 3-14m
wavelength region.

a
Fine

Frost

Coarse

Fine
Frost
Coarse

21

Cloud, fire and smoke

Detecting
smoke
and fires

Cloud
strong reflectance in visible and NIR
associated with shadow
can be penetrated by radar

Fire
high temperature
Wiens displacement law

22

max =

TM band 1-5 and 7

show file smoke (band
1-4) and location of
the fire (band 5, 7).

W
T

W = 2,897m K

Smoke
highly visible (black or white) in visible
can be penetrated by TM5 and TM7 as their
wavelength is larger than the most smoke particles.
23

Spectral Signatures and Their Interpretation

24

GEOG3610 Remote Sensing and Image Interpretation

Multispectral images and their

interpretation

Panchromatic and infrared

photographs

Single image band interpretation

similar to airphoto interpretation
beware of the spectral wavelength of
the band and the spectral signatures of
the objects

Colour composites
Multispectral band statistics
Multispectral classifications

Panchromatic (left) and infrared (bottom) photographs of the Goldach

region, Switzerland. Note the clear separation of tree types and the
differentiation between the small stream and its terrain background in
the infrared photograph.
25

26

Single band interpretation

Infrared and panchromatic photographs

Infrared

TM1

TM2

TM3

TM4

TM5

TM7

Panchromatic

(A) channel bar accretion - darker-toned areas represent the most recent deposits
(moist) that have not yet been vegetated, (B) minor channel through a channelbar complex, (C) meander cutoff, (D) back swamp, and (E) point-bar swamp.
27

Spectral Signatures and Their Interpretation

28

GEOG3610 Remote Sensing and Image Interpretation

Colour composites

Colour Infrared photos

Number of composites
N=

n!
3! (n 3)!

Example: TM 6 non-thermal bands

N=

6!
= 20
3! (6 3)!

29

Colour composites
Nature colour
Colour IR

Mapping bushfire

Study El Nio

Colour composites

(cont.)

RED

GREEN

BLUE

TM3

TM2

TM1

TM4

TM3

TM2

MSS7

MSS5

MSS4

HRV3

HRV2

HRV1

(cont.)

AVHRR4 AVHRR3 AVHRR1

TM7

TM2

TM1

CZCS6

CZCS2

CZCS1

TM
123
31

Spectral Signatures and Their Interpretation

30

TM
234

TM
145
32

GEOG3610 Remote Sensing and Image Interpretation

Object signatures on panchromatic

and infrared photographs
Object
Snow
Clouds
Sky (high oblique)
Clear water
Silty water
Deciduous foliage
Coniferous foliage
Autumn foliage (yellow)
White sand (dry)
White sand (moist)
Red sandstone (dry)
Red sandstone (moist)
Swamp
Asphalt
Concrete

Panchromatica
White
White
Medium grey
Dark grey
Light grey
Dark grey
Dark grey
Light grey
Light grey
Medium grey
Medium grey
Medium grey
Dark grey
Dark grey
Light grey

Multispectral band statistics

Infraredb
White
White
Black
Black
Medium grey
White
Medium grey
Light grey
Light grey
Dark grey
Light grey
Dark grey
Black
Black
Medium grey

Histogram

Acquired with a Kodak Wratten 12 filter. bAcquired with Kodak Wratten 88A or 89B filters
33

Multispectral band statistics

Summary

(cont.)

Different earths materials have various

characteristics in reflecting solar EMR.
The reflectance pattern of an object is called
its spectral signature.
Understanding spectral signatures of earths
materials is essential for remote sensing
image interpretation.
The ultimate goal is to guide spectral band
selection and create human colour vision for
proper image interpretation.

Scattergram

35

Spectral Signatures and Their Interpretation

34

36