Validation of a leaf reflectance and transmittance model for three agricultural crop species

Reflectance and transmittance have been measured for a selection of leaves from three cereal crop species using a laboratory based Varian Cary 500 spectrophotometer. Spectral measurements, along with ancillary data describing chlorophyll, water and dry matter content per unit leaf area, have been used to assess the accuracy of the Prospect model for estimating leaf reflectance and transmittance. An inversion technique has also been applied to the model to derive leaf pigment and leaf water content. This has produced acceptable estimates of the true variation in these parameters. This result indicates that the Prospect model, in conjunction with a suitable method to account for canopy architecture and soil reflectance, has potential to contribute to the generation of crop status information products based on hyperspectral data.