It is an excellent band for in-vivo measurements, because there exists a strong relationship between spectral reflectance and the amount of chlorophyll present. In order to detect these minimal variations, the feasible bandwidths are too broad as yet. Furthermore, this band includes slight crystal field absorptions of Fe, but they are weaker than charge transfer bands and those Fe absorptions that occur at longer wavelengths. Because of degrading sensitivity of available detectors, the region beyond 900 nm was generally restricted. This band is placed in the high reflectance plateau of vegetation, and data derived from it can be related to biomass, state and type of cellular arrangement, density, geometry, and water content of a vegetation canopy.
Astrong relationship exists between spectral reflectance and the amount of green vegetation .
The major problem in defining a panchromatic band arises from the completely different spectral behavior of vegetation as compared to minerals, rocks and soils. The contrast in apparent albedo of these two categories within one single broad band, covering the VIS and NIR range, is dominated by the steep increase of reflectance of vegetation canopies at the red edge around 700nm. The longwave edge of the panchromatic bandpass was determined by calculating a data simulation using a progressive stepwise extension from 720nm to 800nm. The center wavelengths of the seven channels are distributed over a range between 440 nm and 790 nm. The corresponding bandwidths of the multispectral channels vary between 35 nm and 65 nm.