Research progress on monitoring vegetation water content by using hyperspectral remote sensing

Aims Vegetation water content is an important biophysical property of terrestrial vegetation, and its remote estimation can be utilized for real-time monitoring of vegetation drought stress. This paper reviewed and summarized the conception and research progress of four commonly used vegetation water indicators: canopy water content, leaf equivalent water thickness, live fuel moisture content, and relative water content. The advantage and disadvantage of various research methods were evaluated by estimating vegetation water content and identifying the limitation in monitoring vegetation water content using optical hyperspectral remote sensing techniques. Finally, the future research tasks were discussed to address issues on accurate monitoring, early warning and evaluation of vegetation drought stress.