Efficiency assessment of using satellite data for crop area estimation in Ukraine

The knowledge of the crop area is a key element for the estimation of the total crop production of a country and therefore the management of agricultural commodities markets. Satellite data and derived products can be effectively used for stratification purposes and a-posteriori correction of area estimates from ground observations. In this paper we assess the efficiency of using satellite data for crop area estimation in Ukraine. Results of several pilot studies carried out from 2010 to 2012 in Ukraine are described. First, we describe results of the study conducted in 2010 to explore the specific difficulties and efficiency of crop area estimation assisted by satellite remote sensing. The study was carried out on 3 oblasts in Ukraine with a total area of 78500 km2. The efficiency of several image types (MODIS, Landsat TM, AWiFS, LISS-III and RapidEye) combined with a field survey on a stratified sample of square segments is assessed. Second, we present results of integrating data acquired by Ukrainian remote sensing satellite Sich-2 with EO-1 and Landsat-TM/ETM+ for crop area estimation in the Lvivska oblast in 2012. Only optical satellite images were used in both these studies, and results show particular difficulties in discriminating summer crops in Ukraine such as maize, soy beans, sunflower and sugar beet. Therefore, we incorporate SAR satellite images (Radarsat-2 quadpolarization) in order to improve discrimination between summer crops. Obtained results show that omission and commission classification errors can be reduced by adding radar imagery to the optical ones.

GALLEGO PINILLA Francisco;  KUSSUL Natalia;  SKAKUN Sergii;  KRAVCHENCKO Oleksii;  SHELESTOV Andrii;  KUSSUL Olga; 

2014-01-28

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

JRC81784

0303-2434,   

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0303243413001815,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC81784,   

10.1016/j.jag.2013.12.013,