When the third feature, i.e. ‘Wetness’ is analysed, Table 2 shows that it contrasts the sum of the visible and NIR bands with the sum of the SWIR bands. The SWIR bands are considered to be the most sensitive to both soil moisture and plant moisture, so the contrast between these two sets of bands mainly highlights moisture-related scene characteristics (Figure 1(c)) (Crist and Cicone 1984b). On the basis of these characteristics of Brightness, Greenness and Wetness, Figures 1 (b–d) show the planes between first three transformations. The plane between Brightness and Greenness is considered as a plane of vegetation, while the plane between Brightness and Wetness is considered as a plane of soils (Crist and Cicone 1984b). These three planes (Figures 1 (b–d)) are in accordance with those three planes constructed for Landsat TM TCT space by Crist and Cicone (Crist and Kauth 1986; Crist and Cicone 1984b). Thus, using the standard approach to derive the coefficients for a new sensor gives the same TCT space developed by TCT pioneers and thus provides the data continuity for studying the phenology and analysing the temporal series for vegetation change or biomass variation.