Discriminating vegetation with hyperspectral imagery - what is possible?

This paper summarises recent research conducted within the Spatial Information Research Group at Adelaide University, which has explored the spectral characteristics and variability of several plant groups and aimed to apply airborne hyperspectral imagery to tasks involving the discrimination of different plant types. The settings for the research have included both natural vegetation communities and horticultural enterprises in southern Australia. The paper discusses the relevance of the conventional spectral library concept for hyperspectral studies, comments on hyperspectral image analysis methodologies that appear to be useful for vegetation studies, and presents results to date.