It is also useful for soil-boundary and geological boundary mapping. Band 3 may exhibit more contrast than bands 1 and 2 because of the reduced effect of the atmosphere. The 0.69 m cutoff represents the beginning of a spectral region from 0.68 to 0.75 m where vegetation reflectance crossovers occur that can reduce the accuracy of vegetation studies. For reasons discussed above, the lower cutoff for this band was placed above 0.75 m. This band is especially responsive to the amount of vegetation biomass present in a scene.
Turgidity is useful in drought studies and plant vigor studies.
This important band is used to discriminate among various rock formations. It is particularly effective in identifying zones of hydrothermal alteration in rocks. Therefore, band 6 is used in locating geothermal activity, thermal inertia mapping, vegetation classification, vegetation stress analysis, and in measuring soil moisture.