Directional Scattering Properties of a Wintering Deciduous Hardwood Canopy

The unique directional scattering properties of a deciduoushardwood forest without leaves during the winter period wasmeasured in a visible and near-infrared band. A radiative transfermodel was used to explore the scattering properties of such a forest.The reflectance distributions look similar to sparse homogeneous vegetationcanopies. The overall reflectance distribution is a combinationof the extreme azimuthal scattering behavior of tree limbs and the moretypical scattering behavior of understory litter.