Rice mapping and monitoring using ENVISAT ASAR data

Radar remote sensing technology has become an important method for stable and long-time rice monitoring for its capability to operate in all weather conditions. In this letter, ENVISAT Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) alternative-polarization VV/HH data were used for rice monitoring in the Xinghua rice experiment site in the middle of Jiangsu Province. First, a threshold classification method was developed for mapping rice growth area according to the different characteristic of backscatter coefficients between paddy rice and other land surface objects. Then, relational models were built for retrieving rice growth parameters from ASAR images based on correlation analysis between backscatter coefficients and field measurements. Meanwhile, an optical multispectral image was used as ancillary data for rice parameters retrieval. As expected, the retrieved rice growth parameters were consistent with those of field measurements.