Simultaneous Measurement of Leaf and Whole-Canopy Solar-Induced Fluorescence using Very-High-Resolution Imaging Spectroscopy

Abstract:

Incoming solar radiation absorbed by chlorophyll molecules drives the light-dependent reactions of photosynthesis. However, a portion of the radiation absorbed by chlorophyll is dissipated as heat or emitted as fluorescence. Therefore, solar-induced fluorescence (SIF) is mechanistically linked with the instantaneous rate of photosynthesis at the molecular level. Recent studies have shown SIF is correlated with gross primary production (GPP) at the level of individual leaves as well as plant canopies, indicating SIF measurements via satellite and airborne remote sensing may improve estimates of terrestrial GPP. However, accurate inference of canopy GPP from SIF measurements requires resolving several challenges. One challenge is the contribution from leaves in the canopy interior to total canopy SIF. Remotely observed canopy SIF is dominated by the upper canopy, because photons fluoresced within the canopy interior are re-absorbed by other leaves. However, the contribution of interior canopy leaves to total canopy GPP is non-negligible. Models indicate that leaf-level GPP plateaus with increasing SIF, whereas the relationship between whole-canopy GPP and SIF does not saturate. Here we use hourly SIF measurements from a VNIR imaging spectrometer mounted on a canopy tower to quantify within-canopy variation in SIF. We examine leaf-level SIF at < 1 cm spatial resolution in directly illuminated leaves versus leaves in the canopy interior at different canopy heights over the course of several days. The within-canopy variation in SIF demonstrates how the leaf-level contribution to total canopy photosynthesis likely varies throughout the canopy volume. Our results can help inform SIF-derived GPP estimates, which are crucial to quantifying the response of terrestrial ecosystems to climate change.