Needle Absorptance Characteristics During the Forest Ecosystem Dynamics - Multisensor Aircraft Campaign

Forest Ecosystem Dynamics Multisensor Airborne Campaign (FED MAC):
Needle Absorptance Characteristics

The Biospheric Sciences Branch (formerly Earth Resources Branch)
within the Laboratory for Terrestrial Physics at NASA's Goddard Space
Flight Center and associated University investigators are involved in
a research program entitled Forest Ecosystem Dynamics (FED) which is
fundamentally concerned with vegetation change of forest ecosystems at
local to regional spatial scales (100 to 10,000 meters) and temporal
scales ranging from monthly to decadal periods (10 to 100 years). The
nature and extent of the impacts of these changes, as well as the
feedbacks to global climate, may be addressed through modeling the
interactions of the vegetation, soil, and energy components of the
boreal ecosystem.

Needle reflectance and transmittance measurements were made in order
to derive needle absorptance characteristics of red spruce (Picea
rubens), eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis), cedar, balsam fir, and
white pine. Surface directional radiances and reflectances were
measured for the the leaf samples with a spectroradiometer (LICOR
LI-1800 Spectroradiometer with an integrating sphere attachment).
Samples for the laboratory measurements were transported within 24
to 48 hours, and less than 96 h elapsed between the time of branch
excision until the spectral measurement. Usually, this was less than
48 hours.

The FED Home Page is at: "https://forest.gsfc.nasa.gov/".