The normalised difference vegetation index obtained from agrometeorological standard radiation sensors: A comparison with ground-based multiband spectroradiometer measurements during the phenological development of an oat canopy.

Following the methodology of K. F. Huemmrich and colleagues [Huemmrich et al. (1999) J Geophys Res 104:27,935-27,944], agrometeorological standard radiation sensors, i.e. two photosynthetically active radiation sensors and an albedometer, were used to measure the broadband visible and optical-infrared reflectance of an oat plot during its whole growth period. From these reflectance data - recorded as 15-min averages and pooled to daily means - the seasonal cycle of the normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI) was calculated. In addition, a ground-based multi-channel spectroradiometer was used as a reference to estimate narrowband "green" and "red" NDVIs at weekly intervals near noon. The narrowband "green" NDVI was shown to be consistent with the simultaneous broadband 15-min NDVI. This shows that the configuration of agrometeorological radiation sensors is suitable to adequately track phenological crop dynamics.