Polarization of Light Reflected by Grass: Modeling Using Visible-Sunlit Areas

Abstract

The Bidirectional polarization distribution function (BPDF) of land surfaces is important for studies of land surfaces and aerosol. With the availability of a huge number of polarization measurements, several semi-empirical BPDF models have been proposed. However, these models do not pay much attention to canopy structure, which is fundamental for generation of polarization. In this article, we propose a new BPDF model using canopy structure information, which is parameterized by visible-sunlit areas. It is evaluated over grassland using POLDER BPDF and MODIS leaf area index data sets. Experiments suggest that compared to Nadal–Bréon and Litvinov models, the new BPDF model reduces root-mean-square error by 7% and 10%, respectively. The new BPDF model also provides better performance when it is fitted using observations clustered by sun zenith angle. The new BPDF model thus provides an effective tool for the study of land surface polarization.