Detection of Crop Seeding and Harvest through Analysis of Time-Series Sentinel-1 Interferometric SAR Data
Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is more sensitive to the dielectric properties and structure of the targets and less affected by weather conditions than optical sensors, making it more capable of detecting changes induced by management practices in agricultural fields. In this study, the capability o...
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2020-05-01
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Series: | Remote Sensing |
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Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/12/10/1551 |
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doaj-865750e3b76b4cbdbfca96f32e89cd9a |
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record_format |
Article |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Jiali Shang Jiangui Liu Valentin Poncos Xiaoyuan Geng Budong Qian Qihao Chen Taifeng Dong Dan Macdonald Tim Martin John Kovacs Dan Walters |
spellingShingle |
Jiali Shang Jiangui Liu Valentin Poncos Xiaoyuan Geng Budong Qian Qihao Chen Taifeng Dong Dan Macdonald Tim Martin John Kovacs Dan Walters Detection of Crop Seeding and Harvest through Analysis of Time-Series Sentinel-1 Interferometric SAR Data Remote Sensing SAR interferometry Sentinel-1 harvest seeding change detection |
author_facet |
Jiali Shang Jiangui Liu Valentin Poncos Xiaoyuan Geng Budong Qian Qihao Chen Taifeng Dong Dan Macdonald Tim Martin John Kovacs Dan Walters |
author_sort |
Jiali Shang |
title |
Detection of Crop Seeding and Harvest through Analysis of Time-Series Sentinel-1 Interferometric SAR Data |
title_short |
Detection of Crop Seeding and Harvest through Analysis of Time-Series Sentinel-1 Interferometric SAR Data |
title_full |
Detection of Crop Seeding and Harvest through Analysis of Time-Series Sentinel-1 Interferometric SAR Data |
title_fullStr |
Detection of Crop Seeding and Harvest through Analysis of Time-Series Sentinel-1 Interferometric SAR Data |
title_full_unstemmed |
Detection of Crop Seeding and Harvest through Analysis of Time-Series Sentinel-1 Interferometric SAR Data |
title_sort |
detection of crop seeding and harvest through analysis of time-series sentinel-1 interferometric sar data |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Remote Sensing |
issn |
2072-4292 |
publishDate |
2020-05-01 |
description |
Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is more sensitive to the dielectric properties and structure of the targets and less affected by weather conditions than optical sensors, making it more capable of detecting changes induced by management practices in agricultural fields. In this study, the capability of C-band SAR data for detecting crop seeding and harvest events was explored. The study was conducted for the 2019 growing season in Temiskaming Shores, an agricultural area in Northern Ontario, Canada. Time-series SAR data acquired by Sentinel-1 constellation with the interferometric wide (IW) mode with dual polarizations in VV (vertical transmit and vertical receive) and VH (vertical transmit and horizontal receive) were obtained. interferometric SAR (InSAR) processing was conducted to derive coherence between each pair of SAR images acquired consecutively in time throughout the year. Crop seeding and harvest dates were determined by analyzing the time-series InSAR coherence and SAR backscattering. Variation of SAR backscattering coefficients, particularly the VH polarization, revealed seasonal crop growth patterns. The change in InSAR coherence can be linked to change of surface structure induced by seeding or harvest operations. Using a set of physically based rules, a simple algorithm was developed to determine crop seeding and harvest dates, with an accuracy of 85% (n = 67) for seeding-date identification and 56% (n = 77) for harvest-date identification. The extra challenge in harvest detection could be attributed to the impacts of weather conditions, such as rain and its effects on soil moisture and crop dielectric properties during the harvest season. Other factors such as post-harvest residue removal and field ploughing could also complicate the identification of harvest event. Overall, given its mechanism to acquire images with InSAR capability at 12-day revisiting cycle with a single satellite for most part of the Earth, the Sentinel-1 constellation provides a great data source for detecting crop field management activities through coherent or incoherent change detection techniques. It is anticipated that this method could perform even better at a shorter six-day revisiting cycle with both satellites for Sentinel-1. With the successful launch (2019) of the Canadian RADARSAT Constellation Mission (RCM) with its tri-satellite system and four polarizations, we are likely to see improved system reliability and monitoring efficiency. |
topic |
SAR interferometry Sentinel-1 harvest seeding change detection |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/12/10/1551 |
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doaj-865750e3b76b4cbdbfca96f32e89cd9a2020-11-25T03:33:09ZengMDPI AGRemote Sensing2072-42922020-05-01121551155110.3390/rs12101551Detection of Crop Seeding and Harvest through Analysis of Time-Series Sentinel-1 Interferometric SAR DataJiali Shang0Jiangui Liu1Valentin Poncos2Xiaoyuan Geng3Budong Qian4Qihao Chen5Taifeng Dong6Dan Macdonald7Tim Martin8John Kovacs9Dan Walters10Ottawa Research and Development Centre, Science and Technology Branch, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, ON K1A 0C6, CanadaOttawa Research and Development Centre, Science and Technology Branch, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, ON K1A 0C6, CanadaKepler Space Inc., 72 Walden Dr., Ottawa, ON K2K 3L5, CanadaOttawa Research and Development Centre, Science and Technology Branch, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, ON K1A 0C6, CanadaOttawa Research and Development Centre, Science and Technology Branch, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, ON K1A 0C6, CanadaOttawa Research and Development Centre, Science and Technology Branch, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, ON K1A 0C6, CanadaOttawa Research and Development Centre, Science and Technology Branch, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, ON K1A 0C6, CanadaOttawa Research and Development Centre, Science and Technology Branch, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, ON K1A 0C6, CanadaOttawa Research and Development Centre, Science and Technology Branch, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, ON K1A 0C6, CanadaDepartment of Geography, Nipissing University, North Bay, ON P1B 8L7, CanadaDepartment of Geography, Nipissing University, North Bay, ON P1B 8L7, CanadaSynthetic aperture radar (SAR) is more sensitive to the dielectric properties and structure of the targets and less affected by weather conditions than optical sensors, making it more capable of detecting changes induced by management practices in agricultural fields. In this study, the capability of C-band SAR data for detecting crop seeding and harvest events was explored. The study was conducted for the 2019 growing season in Temiskaming Shores, an agricultural area in Northern Ontario, Canada. Time-series SAR data acquired by Sentinel-1 constellation with the interferometric wide (IW) mode with dual polarizations in VV (vertical transmit and vertical receive) and VH (vertical transmit and horizontal receive) were obtained. interferometric SAR (InSAR) processing was conducted to derive coherence between each pair of SAR images acquired consecutively in time throughout the year. Crop seeding and harvest dates were determined by analyzing the time-series InSAR coherence and SAR backscattering. Variation of SAR backscattering coefficients, particularly the VH polarization, revealed seasonal crop growth patterns. The change in InSAR coherence can be linked to change of surface structure induced by seeding or harvest operations. Using a set of physically based rules, a simple algorithm was developed to determine crop seeding and harvest dates, with an accuracy of 85% (n = 67) for seeding-date identification and 56% (n = 77) for harvest-date identification. The extra challenge in harvest detection could be attributed to the impacts of weather conditions, such as rain and its effects on soil moisture and crop dielectric properties during the harvest season. Other factors such as post-harvest residue removal and field ploughing could also complicate the identification of harvest event. Overall, given its mechanism to acquire images with InSAR capability at 12-day revisiting cycle with a single satellite for most part of the Earth, the Sentinel-1 constellation provides a great data source for detecting crop field management activities through coherent or incoherent change detection techniques. It is anticipated that this method could perform even better at a shorter six-day revisiting cycle with both satellites for Sentinel-1. With the successful launch (2019) of the Canadian RADARSAT Constellation Mission (RCM) with its tri-satellite system and four polarizations, we are likely to see improved system reliability and monitoring efficiency.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/12/10/1551SARinterferometrySentinel-1harvestseedingchange detection |