Exploring the Best Hyperspectral Features for LAI Estimation Using Partial Least Squares Regression

Remote Sensing

Xinchuan Li⁴  Youjing Zhang⁴  Yansong Bao¹  Juhua Luo³  Xiuliang Jin²  Xingang Xu²  Xiaoyu Song² 

[1] Collaborative Innovation Center on Forecast and Evaluation of Meteorological Disasters, Key Laboratory for Aerosol-Cloud-Precipitation of China Meteorological Administration, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China; E-Mail:;National Engineering Research Center for Information Technology in Agriculture, Beijing 100097, China; E-Mails:;State Key Laboratory of Lake Science and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China; E-Mail:;School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China; E-Mail:

关键词: hyperspectral remote sensing;    leaf area index (LAI);    spectral feature;    partial least squares regression;   

DOI  :  10.3390/rs6076221

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

The use of spectral features to estimate leaf area index (LAI) is generally considered a challenging task for hyperspectral data. In this study, the hyperspectral reflectance of winter wheat was selected to optimize the selection of spectral features and to evaluate their performance in modeling LAI at various growth stages during 2008 and 2009. We extracted hyperspectral features using different techniques, including reflectance spectra and first derivative spectra, absorption and reflectance position and vegetation indices. In order to find the best subset of features with the best predictive accuracy, partial least squares regression (PLSR) and variable importance in projection (VIP) were applied to estimated LAI values. The results indicated that the red edge–NIR spectral region (680 nm–1300 nm) was the most sensitive to LAI. Most features in this region exhibited a high correlation with LAI and had higher VIP values, especially the first derivative waveband at 750 nm (r = 0.900, VIP = 1.144). Adding a large number of features would not significantly improve the accuracy of the PLSR model. The PLSR model based on the fourteen features with the highest VIP values predicted LAI with a mean bootstrapped R² value of 0.880 and a mean RMSE of 0.943 on the validation dataset and produced an estimated LAI result better than that, including the entire 54-feature dataset with a mean R² of 0.875 and a mean RMSE of 0.965. The results of this study thus suggest that the use of only a few of the best features by VIP values is sufficient for LAI estimation.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland