Mapping Winter Crops Using a Phenology Algorithm, Time-Series Sentinel-2 and Landsat-7/8 Images, and Google Earth Engine

With the increasing population and continuation of climate change, an adequate food supply is vital to economic development and social stability. Winter crops are important crop types in China. Changes in winter crops planting areas not only have a direct impact on China's production and economy, but also potentially affects China's food security. Therefore, it is necessary to obtain information on the planting of winter crops. In this study, we use the time series data of individual pixels, calculate the temporal statistics of spectral bands and the vegetation indices of optical data based on the phenological characteristics of specific vegetation or crops and record them in the time series data, and apply decision trees and rule-based algorithms to generate annual maps of winter crops. First, we constructed a dataset combining all the available images from Landsat 7/8 and Sentinel-2A/B. Second, we generated an annual map of land cover types to obtain the cropland mask in 2019. Third, we generated a time series of a single cropland pixel, and calculated the phenological indicators for classification by extracting the differences in phenological characteristics of different crops: these phenological indicators include SOS (start of season), SDP (start date of peak), EOS (end of season), GUS (green-up speed) and GSL (growing-season length). Finally, we identified winter crops in 2019 based on their phenological characteristics. The main advantages of the phenology-based algorithm proposed in this study include: (1) Combining multiple sensor data to construct a high spatiotemporal resolution image collection. (2) By analyzing the whole growth season of winter crops, the planting area of winter crops can be extracted more accurately, and (3) the phenological indicators of different periods are extracted, which is conducive to monitoring winter crop planting information and seasonal dynamics. The results show that the algorithm constructed in this study can accurately extract the planting area of winter crops, with user, producer, overall accuracies and Kappa coefficients of 96.61%, 94.13%, 94.56% and 0.89, respectively, indicating that the phenology-based algorithm is reliable for large area crop classification. This research will provide a point of reference for crop area extraction and monitoring.

Automated summary

By utilizing time series data and phenological characteristics, this study extracted winter crop planting information in China in 2019. It shows that the phenology-based algorithm is reliable and accurate for large area crop classification.