Effective Leaf Area Index
This layer provides the Effective Leaf Area Index (LAIe), a critical parameter for modeling evapotranspiration and carbon fluxes between the biosphere and the atmosphere. Monitoring the distribution and seasonal evolution of LAI is essential for assessing vegetation health and ecosystem dynamics across Africa.
The Effective Leaf Area Index is a quantitative measure of the amount of live green leaf material present per unit ground surface. Unlike "True LAI," which represents the total physical leaf area, the Effective LAI is derived from canopy gap fraction measurements and assumes a random distribution of foliage. It is a non-dimensional quantity, typically expressed in units of m²/m².
This dataset is widely utilized in agro-meteorology, biogeochemical modeling, and General Circulation Models (GCMs) to parameterize vegetation cover and its complex interactions with the atmosphere.
This layer is part of the Earth Land Information System (ELIS).
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Pinty B., Andredakis I., Clerici M., Kaminski T., Taberner M., Verstraete M. M., Gobron N., Plummer S., and Widlowski J.-L. Exploiting the MODIS albedos with the Two-stream Inversion Package (JRC-TIP): 1. Effective leaf area index, vegetation, and soil properties. Journal of Geophysical Research – Atmospheres, 2011, 116 (D09105), p. 1-20. DOI: 10.1029/2010JD015372
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This indicator shows variations in the vegetation health and / or cover which may be due to other stress factors than rainfall or soil moisture deficits, such as plant diseases. Therefore this indicator must be used jointly with other indicators giving information on the deficit of rainfall and / or soil moisture, in order to determine if the variation in the vegetation response (LAI) is linked with a drought event or not.
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