Remote Imaging: Green Plants
One of the many interesting things i learned in my remote imaging class was about the spectral response of ground covers. Since satellite borne sensors “see” in a much wider range of the electromagnetic spectrum than the visual range, the “color” of green grass is actually green mixed with a great deal of infrared. This article, Grasslands Across Time and Scale: A Remote Sensing Perspective, shows the difference of response with time and breaks down the subtle differences in grassland types. This is a figure showing the spectral response of vegetation with notes on what components are responsible for which spectral aspects.
This came to mind when reading this Nature news article about why green vegetation reflects — and does not use in photosynthesis — the abundant green light from our yellow sun:
From News@Nature:
The sunlight that strikes Earth’s surface, for example, is rich in green light, but land plants often shun this seemingly rich source of energy. Some researchers assumed that reflection of green light was the product of an evolutionary foible — just one of those cases in which the twisted path of evolution didn’t yield the most efficient option. But green light is not as rich in photons as red light and not as energetic as blue light. So although plants seem to have wasted energy by not harnessing the abundant greens, Kiang thinks that they’ve just focused their efforts on the more nutritious reds and blues.
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Tags: Earth's, From News Nature, Grasslands Across Time, green, Kiang, light, Nature, notes, response, Scale, spectral
