Rice crop monitoring and yield estimation through COSMO Skymed and TerraSAR-X: A SAR-based experience in India

Abstract

Rice is the most important cereal crop governing food security in Asia. Reliable and regular information on the area under rice production is the basis of policy decisions related to imports, exports and prices which directly affect food security. Recent and planned launches of SAR sensors coupled with automated processing can provide sustainable solutions to the challenges on mapping and monitoring rice systems. High resolution (3m) Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imageries were used to map and monitor rice growing areas in selected three sites in TamilNadu, India to determine rice cropping extent, track rice growth and estimate yields. A simple, robust, rule-based classification for mapping rice area with multi-temporal, X-band, HH polarized SAR imagery from COSMO Skymed and TerraSAR X and site specific parameters were used. The robustness of the approach is demonstrated on a very large dataset involving 30 images across 3 footprints obtained during 2013-14. A total of 318 in-season site visits were conducted across 60 monitoring locations for rice classification and 432 field observations were made for accuracy assessment. Rice area and Start of Season (SoS) maps were generated with classification accuracies ranging from 87-92 per cent. Using ORYZA2000, a weather driven process based crop growth simulation model; yield estimates were made with the inclusion of rice crop parameters derived from the remote sensing products viz., seasonal rice area, SoS and backscatter time series. Yield Simulation accuracy levels of 87 per cent at district level and 85-96 per cent at block level demonstrated the suitability of remote sensing products for policy decisions ensuring food security and reducing vulnerability of farmers in India.