Transformation Aids Crop Analysis From Spectral Data

Crop analysis aided by mathematical transformation that optimizes perspective of six-dimensional, six-band, spectral data taken from spacecraft or aircraft. Transformation applied to any temperatureclimate vegetated scene, providing direct view of regions of data concentration resulting from band correlations and fundamental reflectance properties of scene classes. Almost all of data variability captured in three spectral features, thus reducing by factor of 2 number of spectral features carried, incurring minimal loss of important information. Three-dimensional representation with two principal planes retains about 95 percent of six-dimensional spectral data used to distinguish among scenes containing green plants and bare soil with varying degrees of moisture.