Linear dimensionality of Landsat agricultural data with implications for classification

A model for the Landsat multispectral scanner data, representing a generalization of the commonly used Gaussian model, has been formulated and analyzed. The model hypothesizes that the data for different crop types essentially lie on distinct hyperplanes in the feature space. Tests of this model reveal that: (1) the agricultural data from any single acquisition (i.e., four-channel) of Landsat are essentially two dimensional, regardless of the crop type; and (2) the data from different sites and different stages of crop development all lie on planes which are parallel. These findings have significant implications for data display, classification, feature extraction, and signature extension.