Evaluation of the UAV-Based Multispectral Imagery and Its Application for Crop Intra-Field Nitrogen Monitoring and Yield Prediction in Ontario

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) has the capability of acquiring high spatial and temporal resolution images. This new technology fills the data gap between satellite and ground survey in agriculture. In addition, UAV-based crop monitoring and methods are new challenge of remote sensing application in agriculture. First, in my thesis the potential of UAV-based imagery was investigated to monitor spatial and temporal variation of crop status in comparison with RapidEye. The correlation between red-edge indices and LAI and biomass are higher for UAV-based imagery than that of RapidEye. Secondly, the nitrogen weight and yield in wheat was predicted using the UAV-based imagery. The intra-field nitrogen prediction model performs well at wheat early growth stage. Additionally, the best data collection time for yield prediction is at the end of booting stage. The results demonstrate the UAV-based data could be an alternative effective and affordable approach for farmers on intra-field management

Development of an earth observation processing chain for crop biophysical parameters at local and global scale

This thesis’ topics embrace remote sensing for Earth observation, specifically in Earth vegetation monitoring. The Thesis’ main objective is to develop and implement an operational processing chain for crop biophysical parameters estimation at both local and global scales from remote sensing data. Conceptually, the components of the chain are the same at both scales: First, a radiative transfer model is run in forward mode to build a database composed by simulations of vegetation surface reflectance and concomitant biophysical parameters associated to those spectrum. Secondly, the simulated database is used for training and testing nonlinear and non-parametric machine learning regression algorithms. The best model in terms of accuracy, bias and goodness-of-fit is then selected to be used in the operational retrieval chain. Once the model is trained, remote sensing surface reflectance data is fed into the trained model as input in the inversion process to retrieve the biophysical parameters of interest at both local and global scales depending on the inputs spatial resolution and coverage. Eventually, the validation of the leaf area index estimates is performed at local scale by a set of ground measurements conducted during coordinated field campaigns in three countries during 2015 and 2016 European rice seasons. At global scale, the validation is performed through intercomparison with the most relevant and widely validated reference biophysical products. The work elaborated in this Thesis is structured in six chapters including an introduction of remote sensing for Earth observation, the developed processing chain at local scale, the ground LAI measurements acquired with smartphones, the developed chain at global scale, a chapter discussing the conclusions of the work, and a chapter which includes an extended abstract in Valencian. The Thesis is completed by an annex which include a compendium of peer-reviewed publications in remote sensing international journals

Vegetation indices for mapping canopy foliar nitrogen in a mixed temperate forest

Hyperspectral remote sensing serves as an effective tool for estimating foliar nitrogen using a variety of techniques. Vegetation indices (VIs) are a simple means of retrieving foliar nitrogen. Despite their popularity, few studies have been conducted to examine the utility of VIs for mapping canopy foliar nitrogen in a mixed forest context. In this study, we assessed the performance of 32 vegetation indices derived from HySpex airborne hyperspectral images for estimating canopy mass-based foliar nitrogen concentration (%N) in the Bavarian Forest National Park. The partial least squares regression (PLSR) was performed for comparison. These vegetation indices were classified into three categories that are mostly correlated to nitrogen, chlorophyll, and structural properties such as leaf area index (LAI). %N was destructively measured in 26 broadleaf, needle leaf, and mixed stand plots to represent the different species and canopy structure. The canopy foliar %N is defined as the plot-level mean foliar %N of all species weighted by species canopy foliar mass fraction. Our results showed that the variance of canopy foliar %N is mainly explained by functional type and species composition. The normalized difference nitrogen index (NDNI) produced the most accurate estimation of %N (R2CV = 0.79, RMSECV = 0.26). A comparable estimation of %N was obtained by the chlorophyll index Boochs2 (R2CV = 0.76, RMSECV = 0.27). In addition, the mean NIR reflectance (800-850 nm), representing canopy structural properties, also achieved a good accuracy in %N estimation (R2CV = 0.73, RMSECV = 0.30). The PLSR model provided a less accurate estimation of %N (R2CV = 0.69, RMSECV = 0.32). We argue that the good performance of all three categories of vegetation indices in %N estimation can be attributed to the synergy among plant traits (i.e., canopy structure, leaf chemical and optical properties) while these traits may converge across plant species for evolutionary reasons