What Can Multifractal Analysis Tell Us about Hyperspectral Imagery?

Abstract

Hyperspectral images provide complex information about the Earth’s surface due to their very high spectral resolution (hundreds of spectral bands per pixel). Effective processing of such a large amount of data requires dedicated analysis methods. Therefore, this research applies, for the first time, the degree of multifractality to the global description of all spectral bands of Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) data. Subsets of four hyperspectral images, presenting four landscape types, are analysed. In particular, we verify whether multifractality can be detected in all spectral bands. Furthermore, we analyse variability in multifractality as a function of wavelength, for data before and after atmospheric correction. We try to identify absorption bands and discuss whether multifractal parameters provide additional value or can help in the problem of dimensionality reduction in hyperspectral data or landscape type classification.