Validation of global land surface satellite (GLASS) fractional vegetation cover product from MODIS data in an agricultural region

Abstract

Fractional vegetation cover (FVC) is an important parameter for describing the land surface vegetation conditions and widely used for land surface process simulations and global change studies. Global FVC products are mainly derived from satellite data and several global FVC products have been generated. Validation of the satellite FVC products is important before they can be applied. The objective of this study is to validate the newly generated Global LAnd Surface Satellite (GLASS) FVC product based on the time series of field FVC measurements in an agriculture region in the Heihe Basin of Northwest China. The high spatial resolution remotely sensed Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) and Compact Airborne Imaging Spectrometer (CASI) data were used to upscale the ground FVC measurements to validate the GLASS FVC product at 0.5 km spatial resolution. The results indicated that the GLASS FVC was highly accurate with the coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.86 and root-mean-square error (RMSE) of 0.087. Furthermore, the time series FVC profiles were consistent with the crop growing characteristics. It can be a reliable FVC product for agricultural applications.