Canopy hot-spot as crop identifier

Illuminating any reflective rough or structured surface by a directional light source results in an angular reflectance distribution that shows a narrow peak in the direction of retro-reflection. This is called the Heiligenschein or hot-spot of vegetation canopies and is caused by mutual shading of leaves. The angular intensity distribution of the hot-spot, its brightness and slope, are therefore indicators of the plant's geometry. We propose the use of hot-spot characteristics as crop identifiers in satellite remote sensing because the canopy hot-spot carries information about plant stand architecture that is more distinctive for different plant species than, for instance, their spectral reflectance characteristics. A simple three-dimensional Monte Carlo/ray tracing model and an analytic two-dimensional model are developed to estimate the angular distribution of the hot-spot as a function of the size of the plant leaves. The results show that the brightness-distribution and slope of the hot-spot change distinctively for different leaf sizes indicating a much more peaked maximum for the smaller leaves