Assimilation of LAI and Dry Biomass Data From Optical and SAR Images Into an Agro-Meteorological Model to Estimate Soybean Yield

Crop monitoring at a fine scale and crop yield estimation are critical from an environmental perspective because they provide essential information to combine increased food production and sustainable management of agricultural landscapes. The aim of this article is to estimate soybean yield using an agro-meteorological model controlled by optical and/or synthetic aperture radar (SAR) multipolarized satellite images. Satellite and ground data were collected over seven working farms. Optical and SAR images were acquired by Formosat-2, Spot-4, Spot-5, and Radarsat-2 satellites during the soybean vegetation cycle. A vegetation index (NDVI) was derived from the optical images, and backscattering coefficients and polarimetric indicators were computed from full quad-pol Radarsat-2 images. An angular normalization of SAR data was performed to minimize the incidence angle effects on SAR signals by using the complementarities provided by SAR and optical data. The best results are obtained when the model is controlled by both the leaf area index (LAI) derived from the optical vegetation index modified triangular vegetation index (MTVI2) or from the SAR backscattering coefficient sigma circle(VV) (LAI(MTVI2) or (LAI sigma circle(VV)) and the dry biomass (DB) derived from the SAR Pauli matrix T33 (DBT33)(r(2) > 0.83), demonstrating the complementary of optical and SAR data.