Crop Monitoring and Classification Using Polarimetric RADARSAT-2 Time-Series Data Across Growing Season: A Case Study in Southwestern Ontario, Canada

Multitemporal polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (PolSAR) has proven as a very effective technique in agricultural monitoring and crop classification. This study presents a comprehensive evaluation of crop monitoring and classification over an agricultural area in southwestern Ontario, Canada. The time-series RADARSAT-2 C-Band PolSAR images throughout the entire growing season were exploited. A set of 27 representative polarimetric observables categorized into ten groups was selected and analyzed in this research. First, responses and temporal evolutions of each of the polarimetric observables over different crop types were quantitatively analyzed. The results reveal that the backscattering coefficients in cross-pol and Pauli second channel, the backscattering ratio between HV and VV channels (HV/VV), the polarimetric decomposition outputs, the correlation coefficient between HH and VV channel ρHHVV, and the radar vegetation index (RVI) show the highest sensitivity to crop growth. Then, the capability of PolSAR time-series data of the same beam mode was also explored for crop classification using the Random Forest (RF) algorithm. The results using single groups of polarimetric observables show that polarimetric decompositions, backscattering coefficients in Pauli and linear polarimetric channels, and correlation coefficients produced the best classification accuracies, with overall accuracies (OAs) higher than 87%. A forward selection procedure to pursue optimal classification accuracy was expanded to different perspectives, enabling an optimal combination of polarimetric observables and/or multitemporal SAR images. The results of optimal classifications show that a few polarimetric observables or a few images on certain critical dates may produce better accuracies than the whole dataset. The best result was achieved using an optimal combination of eight groups of polarimetric observables and six SAR images, with an OA of 94.04%. This suggests that an optimal combination considering both perspectives may be valuable for crop classification, which could serve as a guideline and is transferable for future research.This research was funded in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41,804,004, 41,820,104,005, 41,531,068, 41,904,004), the Canadian Space Agency SOAR-E Program (Grant No. SOAR-E-5489), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, China University of Geosciences (Wuhan) (Grant No. CUG190633), and the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, State Research Agency (AEI) and the European Regional Development Fund under project TEC2017-85244-C2-1-P

Soil moisture retrieval over crop fields based on Two-Component polarimetric decomposition: A comparison of generalized volume scattering models

Model-based polarimetric decomposition can separate to some extent the backscattered radar signals from the vegetation canopy and the underlying ground, hence enabling a strategy for soil moisture retrieval in vegetated agricultural fields. However, the volume scattering models used in previous studies are only applicable to specific cases, making it difficult to completely remove the volume component induced by the vegetation layer. In this paper, three generalized volume scattering models (i.e., generalized volume scattering model (GVSM), simplified adaptive volume scattering model (SAVSM), and simplified Neumann volume scattering model (SNVSM)) are incorporated in the decomposition and evaluated for soil moisture retrieval. Considering the complexity and descriptive ability of the available physical models, a modified two-component model-based decomposition is proposed as the basic decomposition framework. This decomposition is also based on the physical constraint of the dielectric constants included in the model. The employed models combine an X-Bragg surface scattering model with three continuous generalized volume scattering models. The analytic solution of the parameters is obtained, and the minimum power criterion is used to determine the optimal solution to fit the model. By using the proposed model-based decomposition framework, the performance of the three models to simulate the canopy scattering and, as a result, to later estimate soil moisture under agricultural vegetation is evaluated. Fully polarimetric RADARSAT-2 C-band images acquired on eight dates in 2013 and 2015 over fields covered by two crops (wheat and soybean) were employed for validation. Results show that the proposed decomposition method, using any of the three volume scattering models, can provide promising inversion results of soil moisture, with RMSEs ranging from 2.89 to 7.43 [vol.%]. Compared with the other two models, the SNVSM simulates the vegetation contribution more accurately in this framework, and it provides a stable soil moisture inversion performance at different crop phenological stages, with an optimal overall accuracy of RMSE=4.99 [vol.%] and a correlation coefficient of R=0.78.This work was supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41820104005, 42171387, 41804004, 42101400), the Canadian Space Agency SOAR-E Program (Grant No. SOAR-E-5489), and the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (AEI Grant No. PID2020-117303GB-C22)