Crop type identification by integration of high-spatial resolution multispectral data with features extracted from coarse-resolution time-series vegetation index data

Abstract

AbstractCrop type identification is the basis of crop acreage estimation and plays a key role in crop production prediction and food security analysis. However, the accuracy of crop type identification using remote-sensing data needs to be improved to support operational agriculture-monitoring tasks. In this paper, a new method integrating high-spatial resolution multispectral data with features extracted from coarse-resolution time-series vegetation index data is proposed to improve crop type identification accuracy in Hungary. Four crop growth features, including peak value, date of peak occurrence, average rate of green-up, and average rate for the senescence period were extracted from time-series Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) profiles and spatially enhanced to 30 m resolution using resolution merge tools based on a multiplicative method to match the spatial resolution of Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) data. A maximum likelihood classifier (MLC) was used to classify the TM and merged images. Independent validation results indicated that the average overall classification accuracy was improved from 92.38% using TM to 94.67% using the merged images. Based on the classification results using the proposed method, acreages of two major summer crops were estimated and compared to statistical data provided by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The proposed method was able to achieve highly satisfactory crop type identification results. AcknowledgementsThe author would like to thank Li Zhikai and Zhang Feifei for their useful work on image processing. We are grateful for the comments and suggestions of two anonymous referees and for the help of the editor, all of which have led to improvements in the presentation of this article.