Using Low Resolution Satellite Imagery for Crop Monitoring and Yield Prediction at the Regional Scale

Low resolution satellite imagery has been extensively used for crop monitoring and yield forecasting for over 20 years now. What makes these images attractive for applications in vegetation and crop analysis is the combination of their high temporal frequency and their extended geographical coverage generally associated with low costs per area unit. Several qualitative and quantitative approaches can be clearly distinguished, going from the use of low resolution satellite imagery as the main predictor of final crop yield to sophisticated crop growth models where remote sensing derived indicators play more a role of auxiliary information. Nevertheless, despite the good results obtained by many of these approaches, their proven value in an early warning context for arid and semiarid areas and their use in continental operational crop monitoring systems, it should not be forgotten that the mixed nature of low resolution pixels remains a major limitation in many agricultural applications.

REMBOLD Felix;  ATZBERGER Clement;  SAVIN Igor;  ROJAS MORA Oscar; 

2010-12-14

Research Signpost

JRC41826

978-81-308-0421-7,   

https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC41826,