View article

Spectroscopy plays a key role in Earth observations, especially for studies involving vegetation function and structure. These measurements are critical in the context of carbon cycle monitoring from leaf to global scales. Reflectance-based vegetation indices (RIs) have been used extensively in remote sensing studies from the unpiloted aerial vehicle, aerial, and space-based platforms to model quantities related to productivity, such as gross primary production (GPP), while more recently chlorophyll fluorescence (CF) measurements are increasingly exploited to track GPP. CF and RI measurements vary in magnitude, depend on different portions of the spectrum, and are derived from unique equations; thus, instrument uncertainty manifests distinctly for these measurements. Although this is well known, it is often unexamined in experiments and analyses. We use a portable spectroradiometer to make measurements …