Author(s)

Michael Maguigan¹, John Rodgers², Padmanava Dash², Qingmin Meng²

¹National Strategic Planning and Analysis Research Center, Mississippi State University, Starkville, MS, USA.
²Department of Geosciences, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS, USA.

In this study, several vegetation indices were examined in order to determine the most sensitive vegetation index for monitoring southern Appalachian wetlands. Three levels of platforms (in situ, airborne, and satellite) for sensors were also examined in conjunction with vegetation indices. Net primary production (NPP) data were gathered to use as a measure of wetland function. Along with the in situ radiometers, National Agricultural Imagery Program (NAIP) data and Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) data were gathered in order to calculate vegetation indices at three platforms. At the in situ level, VARI700 was the most sensitive vegetation index in terms of NPP (r² = 0.65, p < 0.05). At the airborne level, the NDVI was the most sensitive vegetation index to NPP (r² = 0.35, p = 0.11). At the satellite level, the DVI appeared to have a positive relationship with NPP. For most indices there was a drop in the coefficient of determination with NPP when the platform altitude increased, with the exception of NDVI when increasing altitude from in situ to airborne. This study provides a novel methodology comparing reflectance and vegetation indices at three platform levels.

Net Primary Production, Montane Wetland, In Situ, Airborne, Satellite

Maguigan, M. , Rodgers, J. , Dash, P. and Meng, Q. (2016) Assessing Net Primary Production in Montane Wetlands from Proximal, Airborne, and Satellite Remote Sensing. Advances in Remote Sensing, 5, 118-130. doi: 10.4236/ars.2016.52010.