Phenology-based delineation of irrigated and rain-fed paddy fields with Sentinel-2 imagery in Google Earth Engine

Abstract

Paddy rice agriculture is practiced in both rain-fed and irrigated ecosystems in the Philippines. However, small farms are prevalent in the region, and current satellite-based mapping techniques do not distinguish between the two ecosystems at farm scales. This study developed an approach to rapidly map irrigated and rain-fed paddy rice in Iloilo, Philippines at 10 m resolutions using Google Earth Engine. This approach used an ensemble of classifiers based on time-series vegetation indices to produce dry and wet seasonal maps for the entire province. Results showed a predominance of rain-fed rice areas in both seasons, with irrigated rice making up only one-fourth of the total rice area. The overall accuracy was achieved at 68% for the dry season and 75% for the wet season based on ground-acquired points and very high-resolution imagery. The two types of paddies were classified at accuracies up to 87%. Furthermore, the land cover maps showed a strong agreement with the municipal statistics. The resultant maps complement current official statistics and demonstrate the prowess of phenology-based mapping to create paddy inventories in a timely manner to inform food security and agricultural policies.