Use of an Active Canopy Sensor Mounted on an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle to Monitor the Growth and Nitrogen Status of Winter Wheat

Using remote sensing to rapidly acquire large-area crop growth information (e.g., shoot biomass, nitrogen status) is an urgent demand for modern crop production; unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) acts as an effective monitoring platform. In order to improve the practicability and efficiency of UAV based monitoring technique, four field experiments involving different nitrogen (N) rates (0–360 kg N ha−1 ) and seven winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) varieties were conducted at different eco-sites (Sihong, Rugao, and Xinghua) during 2015–2019. A multispectral active canopy sensor (RapidSCAN CS-45; Holland Scientific Inc., Lincoln, NE, USA) mounted on a multirotor UAV platform was used to collect the canopy spectral reflectance data of winter wheat at key growth stages, three growth parameters (leaf area index (LAI), leaf dry matter (LDM), plant dry matter (PDM)) and three N indicators (leaf N accumulation (LNA), plant N accumulation (PNA) and N nutrition index (NNI)) were measured synchronously. The quantitative linear relationships between spectral data and six growth indices were systematically analyzed. For monitoring growth and N nutrition status at Feekes stages 6.0–10.0, 10.3–11.1 or entire growth stages, red edge ratio vegetation index (RERVI), red edge chlorophyll index (CIRE) and difference vegetation index (DVI) performed the best among the red edge band-based and red-based vegetation indices, respectively. Across all growth stages, DVI was highly correlated with LAI (R2 = 0.78), LDM (R2 = 0.61), PDM (R2 = 0.63), LNA (R2 = 0.65) and PNA (R2 = 0.73), whereas the relationships between RERVI (R2 = 0.62), CIRE (R2 = 0.62) and NNI had high coefficients of determination. The developed models performed better in monitoring growth indices and N status at Feekes stages 10.3–11.1 than Feekes stages 6.0–10.0. To sum it up, the UAV-mounted active sensor system is able to rapidly monitor the growth and N nutrition status of winter wheat and can be deployed for UAV-based remote-sensing of crops

Remote Sensing for Precision Nitrogen Management

This book focuses on the fundamental and applied research of the non-destructive estimation and diagnosis of crop leaf and plant nitrogen status and in-season nitrogen management strategies based on leaf sensors, proximal canopy sensors, unmanned aerial vehicle remote sensing, manned aerial remote sensing and satellite remote sensing technologies. Statistical and machine learning methods are used to predict plant-nitrogen-related parameters with sensor data or sensor data together with soil, landscape, weather and/or management information. Different sensing technologies or different modelling approaches are compared and evaluated. Strategies are developed to use crop sensing data for in-season nitrogen recommendations to improve nitrogen use efficiency and protect the environment

Unlocking the benefits of spaceborne imaging spectroscopy for sustainable agriculture

With the Environmental Mapping and Analysis Program (EnMAP) mission, launched on April 1st 2022, new opportunities unfold for precision farming and agricultural monitoring. The recurring acquisition of spectrometric imagery from space, contiguously resolving the electromagnetic spectrum in the optical domain (400—2500 nm) within close narrow bands, provides unprecedented data about the interaction of radiation with biophysical and biochemical crop constituents. These interactions manifest in spectral reflectance, carrying important information about crop status and health. This information may be incorporated in agricultural management systems to support necessary efforts to maximize yields against the backdrop of an increased food demand by a growing world population. At the same time, it enables the effective optimization of fertilization and pest control to minimize environmental impacts of agriculture. Deriving biophysical and biochemical crop traits from hyperspectral reflectance thereby always relies on a model. These models are categorized into (1) parametric, (2) nonparametric, (3) physically-based, and (4) hybrid retrieval schemes. Parametric methods define an explicit parameterized expression, relating a number of spectral bands or derivates thereof with a crop trait of interest. Nonparametric methods comprise linear techniques, such as principal component analysis (PCA) which addresses collinearity issues between adjacent bands and enables compression of full spectral information into dimensionality reduced, maximal informative principal components (PCs). Nonparametric nonlinear methods, i.e., machine learning (ML) algorithms apply nonlinear transformations to imaging spectroscopy data and are therefore capable of capturing nonlinear relationships within the contained spectral features. Physically-based methods represent an umbrella term for radiative transfer models (RTMs) and related retrieval schemes, such as look-up-table (LUT) inversion. A simple, easily invertible and specific RTM is the Beer-Lambert law which may be used to directly infer plant water content. The most widely used general and invertible RTM is the one-dimensional canopy RTM PROSAIL, which is coupling the Leaf Optical Properties Spectra model PROSPECT and the canopy reflectance model 4SAIL: Scattering by Arbitrarily Inclined Leaves. Hybrid methods make use of synthetic data sets created by RTMs to calibrate parametric methods or to train nonparametric ML algorithms. Due to the ill-posed nature of RTM inversion, potentially unrealistic and redundant samples in a LUT need to be removed by either implementing physiological constraints or by applying active learning (AL) heuristics. This cumulative thesis presents three different hybrid approaches, demonstrated within three scientific research papers, to derive agricultural relevant crop traits from spectrometric imagery. In paper I the Beer-Lambert law is applied to directly infer the thickness of the optically active water layer (i.e., EWT) from the liquid water absorption feature at 970 nm. The model is calibrated with 50,000 PROSPECT spectra and validated over in situ data. Due to separate water content measurements of leaves, stalks, and fruits during the Munich-North-Isar (MNI) campaigns, findings indicate that depending on the crop type and its structure, different parts of the canopy are observed with optical sensors. For winter wheat, correlation between measured and modelled water content was most promising for ears and leaves, reaching coefficients of determination (R2) up to 0.72 and relative RMSE (rRMSE) of 26%, and in the case of corn for the leaf fraction only (R2 = 0.86, rRMSE = 23%). These results led to the general recommendation to collect destructive area-based plant organ specific EWT measurements instead of the common practice to upscale leaf-based EWT measurements to canopy water content (CWC) by multiplication of the leaf area index (LAI). The developed and calibrated plant water retrieval (PWR) model proved to be transferable in space and time and is ready to be applied to upcoming EnMAP data and any other hyperspectral imagery. In paper II the parametric concept of spectral integral ratios (SIR) is introduced to retrieve leaf chlorophyll a and b content (Cab), leaf carotenoid content (Ccx) and leaf water content (Cw) simultaneously from imaging spectroscopy data in the wavelength range 460—1100 nm. The SIR concept is based on automatic separation of respective absorption features through local peak and intercept analysis between log-transformed reflectance and convex hulls. The approach was validated over a physiologically constrained PROSAIL simulated database, considering natural Ccx-Cab relations and green peak locations. Validation on airborne spectrometric HyMAP data achieved satisfactory results for Cab (R2 = 0.84; RMSE = 9.06 µg cm-2) and CWC (R2 = 0.70; RMSE = 0.05 cm). Retrieved Ccx values were reasonable according to Cab-Ccx-dependence plausibility analysis. Mapping of the SIR results as multiband images (3-segment SIR) allows for an intuitive visualization of dominant absorptions with respect to the three considered biochemical variables. Hence, the presented SIR algorithm allows for computationally efficient and RTM supported robust retrievals of the two most important vegetation pigments as well as of water content and is applicable on satellite imaging spectroscopy data. In paper III a hybrid workflow is presented, combining RTM with ML for inferring crop carbon content (Carea) and aboveground dry and fresh biomass (AGBdry, AGBfresh). The concept involves the establishment of a PROSAIL training database, dimensionality reduction using PCA, optimization in the sampling domain using AL against the 4-year MNI campaign dataset, and training of Gaussian process regression (GPR) ML algorithms. Internal validation of the GPR-Carea and GPR-AGB models achieved R2 of 0.80 for Carea, and R2 of 0.80 and 0.71 for AGBdry and AGBfresh, respectively. Validation with an independent dataset, comprising airborne AVIRIS NG imagery (spectrally resampled to EnMAP) and in situ measurements, successfully demonstrated mapping capabilities for both bare and green fields and generated reliable estimates over winter wheat fields at low associated model uncertainties (< 40%). Overall, the proposed carbon and biomass models demonstrate a promising path toward the inference of these crucial variables over cultivated areas from upcoming spaceborne hyperspectral acquisitions, such as from EnMAP. As conclusions, the following important findings arise regarding parametric and nonparametric hybrid methods as well as in view of the importance of in situ data collection. (1) Uncertainties within the RTM PROSAIL should always be considered. A possible reduction of these uncertainties is thereby opposed to the invertibility of the model and its intended simplicity. (2) Both physiological constraints and AL heuristics should be applied to reduce unrealistic parameter combinations in a PROSAIL calibration or training database. (3) State-of-the-art hybrid ML approaches with the ability to provide uncertainty intervals are anticipated as most promising approach for solving inference problems from hyperspectral Earth observation data due to their synergistic use of RTMs and the high flexibility, accuracy and consistency of nonlinear nonparametric methods. (4) Parametric hybrid approaches, due to their algorithmic transparency, enable deeper insights into fundamental physical limitations of optical remote sensing as compared to ML approaches. (5) Integration-based indices that make full use of available hyperspectral information may serve as physics-aware dimensionality reduced input for ML algorithms to either improve estimations or to serve as endmember for crop type discrimination when additional time series information is available. (6) The validation of quantitative model-based estimations is crucial to evaluate and improve their performance in terms of the underlying assumptions, model parameterizations, and input data. (7) In the face of soon-to-be-available EnMAP data, collection of in situ data for validation of retrieval methods should aim at high variability of measured crop types, high temporal variability over the whole growing season, as well as include area- and biomass-based destructive measurements instead of LAI-upscaled leaf measurements. Provided the perfect functionality of the payload instruments, the success of the EnMAP mission and the here presented methods depend critically on a low-noise, accurate atmospherically corrected reflectance product. High-level outputs of the retrieval methods presented in this thesis may be incorporated into agricultural decision support systems for fertilization and irrigation planning, yield estimation, or estimation of the soil carbon sequestration potential to enable a sustainable intensive agriculture in the future.Mit der am 1. April 2022 gestarteten Satellitenmission Environmental Mapping and Analysis Program (EnMAP) eröffnen sich neue Möglichkeiten für die Präzisionslandwirtschaft und das landwirtschaftliche Monitoring. Die wiederkehrende Erfassung spektrometrischer Bilder aus dem Weltraum, welche das elektromagnetische Spektrum im optischen Bereich (400—2500 nm) innerhalb von engen, schmalen Bändern zusammenhängend auflösen, liefert nie dagewesene Daten über die Interaktionen von Strahlung und biophysikalischen und biochemischen Pflanzenbestandteilen. Diese Wechselwirkungen manifestieren sich in der spektralen Reflektanz, die wichtige Informationen über den Zustand und die Gesundheit der Pflanzen enthält. Vor dem Hintergrund einer steigenden Nachfrage nach Nahrungsmitteln durch eine wachsende Weltbevölkerung können diese Informationen in landwirtschaftliche Managementsysteme einfließen, um eine notwendige Ertragsmaximierung zu unterstützen. Gleichzeitig können sie eine effiziente Optimierung der Düngung und Schädlingsbekämpfung ermöglichen, um die Umweltauswirkungen der Landwirtschaft zu minimieren. Die Ableitung biophysikalischer und biochemischer Pflanzeneigenschaften aus hyperspektralen Reflektanzdaten ist dabei immer von einem Modell abhängig. Diese Modelle werden in (1) parametrische, (2) nichtparametrische, (3) physikalisch basierte und (4) hybride Ableitungsmethoden kategorisiert. Parametrische Methoden definieren einen expliziten parametrisierten Ausdruck, der eine Reihe von Spektralkanälen oder deren Ableitungen mit einem Pflanzenmerkmal von Interesse in Beziehung setzt. Nichtparametrische Methoden umfassen lineare Techniken wie die Hauptkomponentenanalyse (PCA). Diese adressieren Kollinearitätsprobleme zwischen benachbarten Kanälen und komprimieren die gesamte Spektralinformation in dimensionsreduzierte, maximal informative Hauptkomponenten (PCs). Nichtparametrische nichtlineare Methoden, d. h. Algorithmen des maschinellen Lernens (ML), wenden nichtlineare Transformationen auf bildgebende Spektroskopiedaten an und sind daher in der Lage, nichtlineare Beziehungen innerhalb der enthaltenen spektralen Merkmale zu erfassen. Physikalisch basierte Methoden sind ein Oberbegriff für Strahlungstransfermodelle (RTM) und damit verbundene Ableitungsschemata, d. h. Invertierungsverfahren wie z. B. die Invertierung mittels Look-up-Table (LUT). Ein einfaches, leicht invertierbares und spezifisches RTM stellt das Lambert-Beer'sche Gesetz dar, das zur direkten Ableitung des Wassergehalts von Pflanzen verwendet werden kann. Das am weitesten verbreitete, allgemeine und invertierbare RTM ist das eindimensionale Bestandsmodell PROSAIL, eine Kopplung des Blattmodells Leaf Optical Properties Spectra (PROSPECT) mit dem Bestandsreflexionsmodell 4SAIL (Scattering by Arbitrarily Inclined Leaves). Bei hybriden Methoden werden von RTMs generierte, synthetische Datenbanken entweder zur Kalibrierung parametrischer Methoden oder zum Training nichtparametrischer ML-Algorithmen verwendet. Aufgrund der Äquifinalitätsproblematik bei der RTM-Invertierung, müssen potenziell unrealistische und redundante Simulationen in einer solchen Datenbank durch die Implementierung natürlicher physiologischer Beschränkungen oder durch die Anwendung von Active Learning (AL) Heuristiken entfernt werden. In dieser kumulativen Dissertation werden drei verschiedene hybride Ansätze zur Ableitung landwirtschaftlich relevanter Pflanzenmerkmale aus spektrometrischen Bilddaten vorgestellt, die anhand von drei wissenschaftlichen Publikationen demonstriert werden. In Paper I wird das Lambert-Beer'sche Gesetz angewandt, um die Dicke der optisch aktiven Wasserschicht (bzw. EWT) direkt aus dem Absorptionsmerkmal von flüssigem Wasser bei 970 nm abzuleiten. Das Modell wird mit 50.000 PROSPECT-Spektren kalibriert und anhand von In-situ-Daten validiert. Aufgrund separater Messungen des Wassergehalts von Blättern, Stängeln und Früchten während der München-Nord-Isar (MNI)-Kampagnen, zeigen die Ergebnisse, dass je nach Kulturart und -struktur, unterschiedliche Teile des Bestandes mit optischen Sensoren beobachtet werden können. Bei Winterweizen wurde die höchste Korrelation zwischen gemessenem und modelliertem Wassergehalt für Ähren und Blätter erzielt und sie erreichte Bestimmtheitsmaße (R2) von bis zu 0,72 bei einem relativen RMSE (rRMSE) von 26%, bei Mais entsprechend nur für die Blattfraktion (R2 = 0,86, rRMSE = 23%). Diese Ergebnisse führten zu der allgemeinen Empfehlung, Kompartiment-spezifische EWT-Bestandsmessungen zu erheben, anstatt der üblichen Praxis, blattbasierte EWT-Messungen durch Multiplikation mit dem Blattflächenindex (LAI) auf den Bestandswassergehalt (CWC) hochzurechnen. Das entwickelte und kalibrierte Modell zur Ableitung des Pflanzenwassergehalts (PWR) erwies sich als räumlich und zeitlich übertragbar und kann auf bald verfügbare EnMAP-Daten und andere hyperspektrale Bilddaten angewendet werden. In Paper II wird das parametrische Konzept der spektralen Integralratios (SIR) eingeführt, um den Chlorophyll a- und b-Gehalt (Cab), den Karotinoidgehalt (Ccx) und den Wassergehalt (Cw) simultan aus bildgebenden Spektroskopiedaten im Wellenlängenbereich 460-1100 nm zu ermitteln. Das SIR-Konzept basiert auf der automatischen Separierung der jeweiligen Absorptionsmerkmale durch lokale Maxima- und Schnittpunkt-Analyse zwischen log-transformierter Reflektanz und konvexen Hüllen. Der Ansatz wurde anhand einer physiologisch eingeschränkten PROSAIL-Datenbank unter Berücksichtigung natürlicher Ccx-Cab-Beziehungen und Positionen der Maxima im grünen Wellenlängenbereich validiert. Die Validierung mit flugzeuggestützten spektrometrischen HyMAP-Daten ergab zufriedenstellende Ergebnisse für Cab (R2 = 0,84; RMSE = 9,06 µg cm-2) und CWC (R2 = 0,70; RMSE = 0,05 cm). Die ermittelten Ccx-Werte wurden anhand einer Plausibilitätsanalyse entsprechend der Cab-Ccx-Abhängigkeit als sinnvoll bewertet. Die Darstellung der SIR-Ergebnisse als mehrkanalige Bilder (3 segment SIR) ermöglicht zudem eine auf die drei betrachteten biochemischen Variablen bezogene, intuitive Visualisierung der dominanten Absorptionen. Der vorgestellte SIR-Algorithmus ermöglicht somit wenig rechenintensive und RTM-gestützte robuste Ableitungen der beiden wichtigsten Pigmente sowie des Wassergehalts und kann in auf jegliche zukünftig verfügbare Hyperspektraldaten angewendet werden. In Paper III wird ein hybrider Ansatz vorgestellt, der RTM mit ML kombiniert, um den Kohlenstoffgehalt (Carea) sowie die oberirdische trockene und frische Biomasse (AGBdry, AGBfresh) abzuschätzen. Das Konzept umfasst die Erstellung einer PROSAIL-Trainingsdatenbank, die Dimensionsreduzierung mittels PCA, die Reduzierung der Stichprobenanzahl mittels AL anhand des vier Jahre umspannenden MNI-Kampagnendatensatzes und das Training von Gaussian Process Regression (GPR) ML-Algorithmen. Die interne Validierung der GPR-Carea und GPR-AGB-Modelle ergab einen R2 von 0,80 für Carea und einen R2 von 0,80 bzw. 0,71 für AGBdry und AGBfresh. Die Validierung auf einem unabhängigen Datensatz, der flugzeuggestützte AVIRIS-NG-Bilder (spektral auf EnMAP umgerechnet) und In-situ-Messungen umfasste, zeigte erfolgreich die Kartierungsfähigkeiten sowohl für offene Böden als auch für grüne Felder und führte zu zuverlässigen Schätzungen auf Winterweizenfeldern bei geringen Modellunsicherheiten (< 40%). Insgesamt zeigen die vorgeschlagenen Kohlenstoff- und Biomassemodelle einen vielversprechenden Ansatz auf, der zur Ableitung dieser wichtigen Variablen über Anbauflächen aus künftigen weltraumgestützten Hyperspektralaufnahmen wie jenen von EnMAP genutzt werden kann. Als Schlussfolgerungen ergeben sich die folgenden wichtigen Erkenntnisse in Bezug auf parametrische und nichtparametrische Hybridmethoden sowie bezogen auf die Bedeutung der In-situ-Datenerfassung. (1) Unsicherheiten innerhalb des RTM PROSAIL sollten immer berücksichtigt werden. Eine mögliche Verringerung dieser Unsicherheiten steht dabei der Invertierbarkeit des Modells und dessen beabsichtigter Einfachheit entgegen. (2) Sowohl physiologische Einschränkungen als auch AL-Heuristiken sollten angewendet werden, um unrealistische Parameterkombinationen in einer PROSAIL-Kalibrierungs- oder Trainingsdatenbank zu reduzieren. (3) Modernste ML-Ansätze mit der Fähigkeit, Unsicherheitsintervalle bereitzustellen, werden als vielversprechendster Ansatz für die Lösung von Inferenzproblemen aus hyperspektralen Erdbeobachtungsdaten aufgrund ihrer synergetischen Nutzung von RTMs und der hohen Flexibilität, Genauigkeit und Konsistenz nichtlinearer nichtparametrischer Methoden angesehen. (4) Parametrische hybride Ansätze ermöglichen aufgrund ihrer algorithmischen Transparenz im Vergleich zu ML-Ansätzen tiefere Einblicke in die grundlegenden physikalischen Grenzen der optischen Fernerkundung. (5) Integralbasierte Indizes, die die verfügbare hyperspektrale Information voll ausschöpfen, können als physikalisch-basierte dimensionsreduzierte Inputs für ML-Algorithmen dienen, um entweder Schätzungen zu verbessern oder um als Eingangsdaten die verbesserte Unterscheidung von Kulturpflanzen zu ermöglichen, sobald zusätzliche Zeitreiheninformationen verfügbar sind. (6) Die Validierung quantitativer modellbasierter Schätzungen ist von entscheidender Bedeutung für die Bewertung und Verbesserung ihrer Leistungsfähigkeit in Bezug auf die zugrunde liegenden Annahmen, Modellparametrisierungen und Eingabedaten. (7) Angesichts der bald verfügbaren EnMAP-Daten sollte die Erhebung von In-situ-Daten zur Validierung von Ableitungsmethoden auf eine hohe Variabilität der gemessenen Pflanzentypen und eine hohe zeitliche Variabilität über die gesamte Vegetationsperiode abzielen sowie flächen- und biomassebasierte destruktive Messungen anstelle von LAI-skalierten Blattmessungen umfassen. Unter der Voraussetzung, dass die Messinstrumente perfekt funktionieren, hängt der Erfolg der EnMAP-Mission und der hier vorgestellten Methoden entscheidend von einem rauscharmen, präzise atmosphärisch korrigierten Reflektanzprodukt ab. Die Ergebnisse der in dieser Arbeit vorgestellten Methoden können in landwirtschaftliche Entscheidungsunterstützungssysteme für die Dünge- oder Bewässerungsplanung, die Ertragsabschätzung oder die Schätzung des Potenzials der Kohlenstoffbindung im Boden integriert werden, um eine nachhaltige Intensivlandwirtschaft in der Zukunft zu ermöglichen

Use of consumer-grade cameras to assess wheat N status and grain yield

Relationships between (a) fractional Intercepted PAR (fIPAR), and (b) aboveground biomass (Biomass) and (c) grain yield at harvest with the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) derived either from a spectroradiometer or a conventional camera at final grain filling (n = 12).Postprint (published version

High-throughput phenotyping of plant leaf morphological, physiological, and biochemical traits on multiple scales using optical sensing

Acquisition of plant phenotypic information facilitates plant breeding, sheds light on gene action, and can be applied to optimize the quality of agricultural and forestry products. Because leaves often show the fastest responses to external environmental stimuli, leaf phenotypic traits are indicators of plant growth, health, and stress levels. Combination of new imaging sensors, image processing, and data analytics permits measurement over the full life span of plants at high temporal resolution and at several organizational levels from organs to individual plants to field populations of plants. We review the optical sensors and associated data analytics used for measuring morphological, physiological, and biochemical traits of plant leaves on multiple scales. We summarize the characteristics, advantages and limitations of optical sensing and data-processing methods applied in various plant phenotyping scenarios. Finally, we discuss the future prospects of plant leaf phenotyping research. This review aims to help researchers choose appropriate optical sensors and data processing methods to acquire plant leaf phenotypes rapidly, accurately, and cost-effectively

The application of ground-based and satellite remote sensing for estimation of bio-physiological parameters of wheat grown under different water regimes

Remote sensing technologies have been widely studied for the estimation of crop biometric and physiological parameters. The number of sensors and data acquisition methods have been increasing, and their evaluation is becoming a necessity. The aim of this study was to assess the performance of two remote sensing data for describing the variations of biometric and physiological parameters of durum wheat grown under different water regimes (rainfed, 50% and 100% of irrigation requirements). The experimentation was carried out in Policoro (Southern Italy) for two growing seasons. The Landsat 8 and Sentinel-2 images and radiometric ground-based data were acquired regularly during the growing season with plant biometric (leaf area index and dry aboveground biomass) and physiological (stomatal conductance, net assimilation, and transpiration rate) parameters. Water deficit index was closely related to plant water status and crop physiological parameters. The enhanced vegetation index showed slightly better performance than the normalized difference vegetation index when plotted against the leaf area index with R2 = 0.73. The overall results indicated that the ground-based vegetation indices were in good agreement with the satellite-based indices. The main constraint for effective application of satellite-based indices remains the presence of clouds during the acquisition time, which is particularly relevant for winter-spring crops. Therefore, the integration of remote sensing and field data might be needed to optimize plant response under specific growing conditions and to enhance agricultural production

Contribution of Remote Sensing on Crop Models: A Review

Crop growth models simulate the relationship between plants and the environment to predict the expected yield for applications such as crop management and agronomic decision making, as well as to study the potential impacts of climate change on food security. A major limitation of crop growth models is the lack of spatial information on the actual conditions of each field or region. Remote sensing can provide the missing spatial information required by crop models for improved yield prediction. This paper reviews the most recent information about remote sensing data and their contribution to crop growth models. It reviews the main types, applications, limitations and advantages of remote sensing data and crop models. It examines the main methods by which remote sensing data and crop growth models can be combined. As the spatial resolution of most remote sensing data varies from sub-meter to 1 km, the issue of selecting the appropriate scale is examined in conjunction with their temporal resolution. The expected future trends are discussed, considering the new and planned remote sensing platforms, emergent applications of crop models and their expected improvement to incorporate automatically the increasingly available remotely sensed products

Evaluation of Sentinel-2 Red-Edge Bands for Empirical Estimation of Green LAI and Chlorophyll Content

ESA’s upcoming satellite Sentinel-2 will provide Earth images of high spatial, spectral and temporal resolution and aims to ensure continuity for Landsat and SPOT observations. In comparison to the latter sensors, Sentinel-2 incorporates three new spectral bands in the red-edge region, which are centered at 705, 740 and 783 nm. This study addresses the importance of these new bands for the retrieval and monitoring of two important biophysical parameters: green leaf area index (LAI) and chlorophyll content (Ch). With data from several ESA field campaigns over agricultural sites (SPARC, AgriSAR, CEFLES2) we have evaluated the efficacy of two empirical methods that specifically make use of the new Sentinel-2 bands. First, it was shown that LAI can be derived from a generic normalized difference index (NDI) using hyperspectral data, with 674 nm with 712 nm as best performing bands. These bands are positioned closely to the Sentinel-2 B4 (665 nm) and the new red-edge B5 (705 nm) band. The method has been applied to simulated Sentinel-2 data. The resulting green LAI map was validated against field data of various crop types, thereby spanning a LAI between 0 and 6, and yielded a RMSE of 0.6. Second, the recently developed “Normalized Area Over reflectance Curve” (NAOC), an index that derives Ch from hyperspectral data, was studied on its compatibility with simulated Sentinel-2 data. This index integrates the reflectance curve between 643 and 795 nm, thereby including the new Sentinel-2 bands in the red-edge region. We found that these new bands significantly improve the accuracy of Ch estimation. Both methods emphasize the importance of red-edge bands for operational estimation of biophysical parameters from Sentinel-2

Remote Sensing as a Precision Farming Tool in the Nile Valley, Egypt

Detecting stress in plants resulting from different stressors including nitrogen deficiency, salinity, moisture, contamination and diseases, is crucial in crop production. In the Nile Valley, crop production is hindered perhaps more fundamentally by issues of water supply and salinity. Predicting stress in crops by conventional methods is tedious, laborious and costly and is perhaps unreliable in providing a spatial context of stress patterns. Accurate and quick monitoring techniques for crop status to detect stress in crops at early growth stages are needed to maximize crop productivity. In this context, remotely sensed data may provide a useful tool in precision farming. This research aims to evaluate the role of in situ hyperspectral and high spatial resolution satellite remote sensing data to detect stress in wheat and maize crops and assess whether moisture induced stress can be distinguished from salinity induced stress spectrally. A series of five greenhouse based experiments on wheat and maize were undertaken subjecting both crops to a range of salinity and moisture stress levels. Spectroradiometry measurements were collected at different growth stages of each crop to assess the relationship between crop biophysical and biochemical properties and reflectance measurements from plant canopies. Additionally, high spatial resolution satellite images including two QuickBird, one ASTER and two SPOT HRV were acquired in south-west Alexandria, Egypt to assess the potential of high spectral and spatial resolution satellite imagery to detect stress in wheat and maize at local and regional scales. Two field work visits were conducted in Egypt to collect ground reference data and coupled with Hyperion imagery acquisition, during winter and summer seasons of 2007 in March (8-30: wheat) and July (12-17: maize). Despite efforts, Hyperion imagery was not acquired due to factors out with the control of this research. Strong significant correlations between crop properties and different vegetation indices derived from both ground based and satellite platforms were observed. RDVI showed a sensitive index to different wheat properties (r > 0.90 with different biophysical properties). In maize, GNDVIbr and Cgreen had strong significant correlations with maize biophysical properties (r > 0.80). PCA showed the possibility to distinguish between moisture and salinity induced stress at the grain filling stages. The results further showed that a combined approach of high (2-5 m) and moderate (15-20) spatial resolution satellite imagery can provide a better mechanistic interpretation of the distribution and sources of stress, despite the typical small size of fields (20-50 m scale). QuickBird imagery successfully detects stress within field and local scales, whereas SPOT HRV imagery is useful in detecting stress at a regional scale, and therefore, can be a robust tool in identifying issues of crop management at a regional scale. Due to the limited spectral capabilities of high spatial resolution images, distinguishing different sources of stress is not directly possible, and therefore, hyperspectral satellite imagery (e.g. Hyperion or HyspIRI) is required to distinguish between moisture and salinity induced stress. It is evident from the results that remotely sensed data acquired by both in situ hyperspectral and high spatial resolution satellite remote sensing can be used as a useful tool in precision farming in the Nile Valley, Egypt. A combined approach of using reliable high spatial and spectral satellite remote sensing data could provide better insight about stress at local and regional scales. Using this technique as a precision farming and management tool will lead to improved crop productivity by limiting stress and consequently provide a valuable tool in combating issues of food supply at a time of rapid population growth