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Figure 5. A normal photograph consists of just three colors, red, green, and blue. A radiometer measures light in individual wavelengths and generates a spectrum. Spectra are useful because they are unique for many compounds such as minerals, and they can give us useful information about plants. A hyperspectral image contains many “bands” of colors, so that each pixel of the image contains an entire spectrum. In the diagram above, spectra from a wheat field and bare soil have been extracted from the hyperspectral image. The image could be processed to identify areas that have unique spectra, such as pasture, weeds, etc. and then the amount of land covered by each of these could be measured. BACK

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