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Dr Luke Brown's Outputs (35)

GROUNDED EO: Data-driven Sentinel-2 LAI and FAPAR retrieval using Gaussian processes trained with extensive fiducial reference measurements (2025)
Journal Article

Due to their importance in monitoring and modelling Earth's climate, the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) designates leaf area index (LAI) and the fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (FAPAR) as essential climate variables (... Read More about GROUNDED EO: Data-driven Sentinel-2 LAI and FAPAR retrieval using Gaussian processes trained with extensive fiducial reference measurements.

Hyperspectral Leaf Area Index and Chlorophyll Retrieval over Forest and Row-Structured Vineyard Canopies (2024)
Journal Article

As an unprecedented stream of decametric hyperspectral observations becomes available from recent and upcoming spaceborne missions, effective algorithms are required to retrieve vegetation biophysical and biochemical variables such as leaf area index... Read More about Hyperspectral Leaf Area Index and Chlorophyll Retrieval over Forest and Row-Structured Vineyard Canopies.

Near-infrared digital hemispherical photography enables correction of plant area index for woody material during leaf-on conditions (2023)
Journal Article

Indirect optical measurement techniques enable efficient and non-destructive estimation of plant area index (PAI). However, because they cannot distinguish between foliage and other canopy elements, corrections are needed to determine leaf area index... Read More about Near-infrared digital hemispherical photography enables correction of plant area index for woody material during leaf-on conditions.

HemiPy: A Python module for automated estimation of forest biophysical variables and uncertainties from digital hemispherical photographs (2023)
Journal Article

Digital hemispherical photography (DHP) is widely used to derive forest biophysical variables including leaf, plant, and green area index (LAI, PAI and GAI), the fraction of intercepted photosynthetically active radiation (FIPAR), and the fraction of... Read More about HemiPy: A Python module for automated estimation of forest biophysical variables and uncertainties from digital hemispherical photographs.

Leaf-wood classification of terrestrial laser scanning data with co-registered near-infrared photography (2025)
Journal Article

Due to their importance for climate change monitoring, modelling and adaptation, vegetation structural properties including leaf area index (LAI) are designated essential climate variables (ECVs) by the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS). Ter... Read More about Leaf-wood classification of terrestrial laser scanning data with co-registered near-infrared photography.

Leaf‐wood classification of terrestrial laser scanning data with co‐registered near‐infrared photography (2025)
Journal Article

Due to their importance for climate change monitoring, modelling and adaptation, vegetation structural properties including leaf area index (LAI) are designated essential climate variables (ECVs) by the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS). Terrest... Read More about Leaf‐wood classification of terrestrial laser scanning data with co‐registered near‐infrared photography.

Optimizing the Temperature Sensitivity of the Isoprene Emission Model MEGAN in Different Ecosystems Using a Metropolis-Hastings Markov Chain Monte Carlo Method (2025)
Journal Article

Isoprene is a reactive hydrocarbon emitted to the atmosphere in large quantities by terrestrial vegetation. Annual total isoprene emissions exceed 300 Tg a−1, but emission rates vary widely among plant species and are sensitive to meteorological and... Read More about Optimizing the Temperature Sensitivity of the Isoprene Emission Model MEGAN in Different Ecosystems Using a Metropolis-Hastings Markov Chain Monte Carlo Method.

On the consistency and stability of vegetation biophysical variables retrievals from Landsat-8/9 and Sentinel-2 (2025)
Journal Article

Systematic decametric resolution global mapping of vegetation biophysical variables, including fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (fAPAR), fraction of vegetation cover (fCOVER), and leaf area index (LAI), is required to support... Read More about On the consistency and stability of vegetation biophysical variables retrievals from Landsat-8/9 and Sentinel-2.

Validation and Conformity Testing of Sentinel-3 Green Instantaneous FAPAR and Canopy Chlorophyll Content Products (2024)
Journal Article

This article presents validation and conformity testing of the Sentinel-3 Ocean Land Colour Instrument (OLCI) green instantaneous fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (FAPAR) and OLCI terrestrial chlorophyll index (OTCI) canopy ch... Read More about Validation and Conformity Testing of Sentinel-3 Green Instantaneous FAPAR and Canopy Chlorophyll Content Products.

CoverPy: Automated estimates of plant area index, vegetation cover, crown cover, crown porosity, and uncertainties from digital cover photography in Python (2024)
Journal Article
Brown, L. A., & Leblanc, S. (2024). CoverPy: Automated estimates of plant area index, vegetation cover, crown cover, crown porosity, and uncertainties from digital cover photography in Python. SoftwareX, 27, 101767. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.softx.2024.101767

Implemented in Python, CoverPy enables automated estimation of plant area index (PAI), the fraction of vegetation cover (FCOVER), crown cover (CC), and crown porosity (CP) from digital cover photography (DCP). When compared to avail... Read More about CoverPy: Automated estimates of plant area index, vegetation cover, crown cover, crown porosity, and uncertainties from digital cover photography in Python.

Limited environmental and yield benefits of intercropping practices in smallholder fields: Evidence from multi-source data (2023)
Journal Article

Context
To ensure food security in sub-Saharan Africa, it is necessary to improve crop yields while minimizing environmental impacts. Intercropping has been demonstrated to deliver such outcomes, but their performance in smallholder fields has recei... Read More about Limited environmental and yield benefits of intercropping practices in smallholder fields: Evidence from multi-source data.

Assessment of active LiDAR data and passive optical imagery for double-layered mangrove leaf area index estimation: a case study in Mai Po, Hong Kong (2023)
Journal Article
Li, Q., Wong, F. K. K., Kwan, F., Wong, K., Fung, T., Brown, L. A., & Dash, J. (2023). Assessment of active LiDAR data and passive optical imagery for double-layered mangrove leaf area index estimation: a case study in Mai Po, Hong Kong. Remote Sensing, 15(10), 2551. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15102551

Remote sensing technology is a timely and cost-efficient method for leaf area index (LAI) estimation, especially for less accessible areas such as mangrove forests. Confounded by the poor penetrability of optical images, most previous studies focused... Read More about Assessment of active LiDAR data and passive optical imagery for double-layered mangrove leaf area index estimation: a case study in Mai Po, Hong Kong.

Validation of Simplified Level 2 Prototype Processor Sentinel-2 fraction of canopy cover, fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation and leaf area index products over North American forests (2023)
Journal Article

Canopy biophysical variables such as the fraction of canopy cover (fCOVER), fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (fAPAR), and leaf area index (LAI) are widely used for ecosystem modelling and monitoring. The Sentinel-2 mission was... Read More about Validation of Simplified Level 2 Prototype Processor Sentinel-2 fraction of canopy cover, fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation and leaf area index products over North American forests.

The spatio‐temporal distribution of pollen traits related to dispersal and desiccation tolerance in Canarian laurel forest (2022)
Journal Article

Questions
Pollen traits (e.g., size, wall thickness, number of apertures) have been suggested to be relevant in terms of pollination mechanisms and the ability of the male gametophyte to withstand desiccation. We examined the spatiotemporal distribu... Read More about The spatio‐temporal distribution of pollen traits related to dispersal and desiccation tolerance in Canarian laurel forest.

Calibration and characterisation of four chlorophyll meters and transmittance spectroscopy for non-destructive estimation of forest leaf chlorophyll concentration (2022)
Journal Article
Brown, L., Williams, O., & Dash, J. (2022). Calibration and characterisation of four chlorophyll meters and transmittance spectroscopy for non-destructive estimation of forest leaf chlorophyll concentration. Agricultural and forest meteorology, 323, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2022.109059

Chlorophyll meters enable efficient and non-destructive estimation of leaf chlorophyll concentration (LCC), but require calibration against destructively-determined values to provide an absolute quantity that is comparable between different studies a... Read More about Calibration and characterisation of four chlorophyll meters and transmittance spectroscopy for non-destructive estimation of forest leaf chlorophyll concentration.

Evaluation of Sentinel-3A and Sentinel-3B ocean land colour instrument green instantaneous fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (2021)
Journal Article

This article presents the evaluation of the Copernicus Sentinel-3 Ocean Land Colour Instrument (OLCI) operational terrestrial products corresponding to the green instantaneous Fraction of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (FAPAR) and its a... Read More about Evaluation of Sentinel-3A and Sentinel-3B ocean land colour instrument green instantaneous fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation.