Abstract: Remotely sensing the water status of plant canopies remains a long term goal of remote sensing research. Existing approaches to remotely sense canopy water status, such as the Crop Water Stress Index (CWSI) and the Equivalent Water Thickness (EWT), have limitations. The CWSI, based upon remotely sensing canopy radiant temperature in the thermal infrared spectral region, does not work well in humid regions, requires estimates of the vapor pressure deficit near the canopy during the remote sens…