remotesensing-logo

Journal Browser

Journal Browser

Monitoring Water, Vegetation, and Soil Condition in Farmland Ecosystems: Integration of Multi-Source Remote Sensing

A special issue of Remote Sensing (ISSN 2072-4292). This special issue belongs to the section "Ecological Remote Sensing".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2024) | Viewed by 13133

Special Issue Editors


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Water Resource and Hydropower, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China
Interests: precision irrigation and deficit irrigation; agricultural water resources management; agrometeorology and evapotranspiration; drip fertigation regulation; modelling of crop growth
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Key Laboratory of Agricultural Remote Sensing, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs/Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
Interests: agriculture; quantitative remote sensing; chlorophyll fluorescence; phenology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Water Quality Improvement and Ecological Restoration for Watersheds, School of Ecology, Environment and Resources, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
Interests: water resources system management; water system nexus simulation and planning; uncertainty optimization
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The accurate and timely monitoring of water, vegetation, and soil variables in farmland ecosystems plays an irreplaceable role in optimizing farmland management for maximizing crop productivity. The recent and rapid development of different sensors (e.g., optical, SAR, and LiDAR) with different temporal and spatial resolutions has greatly promoted the potential of near real-time crop monitoring from space, which is demanded in precision agriculture. Multi-source remote sensing (RS) can provide near real-time and accurate spatial information on farmland surfaces in large areas, such as crop types, crop water deficits, leaf area indexes (LAIs), leaf chlorophyll contents, and soil moistures. The incorporation of dynamic crop traits from multi-source RS data into crop growth models to minimize discrete performance gaps and spatiotemporal gaps has been recently highlighted. However, differences in the association between different RS platforms and the dynamic inconsistencies in the correlation between crop varieties exist. New approaches for effectively fusing multi-source RS data to improve crop growth monitoring are required. Developing advanced approaches for quantifying the soil‒water‒plant relationship based on multi-source RS is urgent as well. This Special Issue will focus on the advancement of multi-source remote sensing in monitoring water, vegetation, and soil conditions in farmland ecosystems. We welcome novel research, reviews, and opinion pieces covering all the related topics, which include but are not limited to:

  • Retrieving soil moisture and nutrients in farmlands;
  • Cultivation structure extraction and area estimation;
  • Crop trait (crop types, LAIs, crop water deficits, and leaf chlorophyll contents) inversion;
  • Assimilation of multi-source RS into crop growth models;
  • Optimization of an irrigation system and the evaluation of water productivity;
  • Construction of a regional intelligent irrigation decision-making system;
  • Further understanding of the soil‒water‒crop relationship.

You may choose our Joint Special Issue in Earth.

Prof. Dr. Ningbo Cui
Dr. Taifeng Dong
Dr. Cong Wang
Prof. Dr. Yulei Xie
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Remote Sensing is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • soil variables
  • crop traits
  • multi-source RS
  • crop growth model
  • irrigation system

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.

Published Papers (8 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

Jump to: Other

20 pages, 5671 KiB  
Article
Study on Soil Moisture Status of Soybean and Corn across the Whole Growth Period Based on UAV Multimodal Remote Sensing
by Yaling Zhang, Xueyi Yang and Fei Tian
Remote Sens. 2024, 16(17), 3166; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs16173166 - 27 Aug 2024
Viewed by 979
Abstract
Accurate estimation of soil moisture content (SMC) in the field is a critical aspect of precise irrigation management. The development of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) platforms has provided an economically efficient means for field-scale SMC measurements. However, previous studies have mostly focused on [...] Read more.
Accurate estimation of soil moisture content (SMC) in the field is a critical aspect of precise irrigation management. The development of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) platforms has provided an economically efficient means for field-scale SMC measurements. However, previous studies have mostly focused on single-sensor estimates of SMC. Additionally, the lack of differentiation between various crops and their growth stages has resulted in an unclear understanding of how crop types and growth stages affect the accuracy of SMC estimation at different soil depths. Therefore, the purpose of this paper was to use UAV multimodal remote sensing and a machine learning algorithm to estimate the SMC in agricultural fields and investigate estimation’s effectiveness under different scenarios. The results indicated the following: (1) The multispectral remote sensing method provided higher accuracy in SMC estimation compared to thermal infrared remote sensing. Moreover, the integration of multimodal data improved the accuracy of SMC estimation, enhancing the coefficient of determination (R2) by approximately 14% over that achieved through the use of multispectral data alone and 39% over that of thermal infrared data alone. (2) Across the entire growth period, the optimal soil depths of SMC estimation for soybean were 10 cm and 20 cm (average R2 were 0.81 and 0.82, respectively), while for corn, they were 10 cm, 20 cm, and 40 cm (average R2 were 0.59, 0.60, and 0.55, respectively). (3) The SMC estimation model performed better for both crops during the first three growth stages, with accuracy declining in the maturity stage. These results demonstrate that this approach can provide relatively accurate root zone SMC estimates for different crops throughout their main growth periods. Thus, it can be employed for SMC monitoring and precision irrigation system design. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

21 pages, 27025 KiB  
Article
Raster Scale Farmland Productivity Assessment with Multi-Source Data Fusion—A Case of Typical Black Soil Region in Northeast China
by Yuwen Liu, Chengyuan Wang, Enheng Wang, Xuegang Mao, Yuan Liu and Zhibo Hu
Remote Sens. 2024, 16(8), 1435; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs16081435 - 18 Apr 2024
Viewed by 947
Abstract
Degradation of black soil areas is a serious threat to national food security and ecological safety; nevertheless, the current lack of information on the location, size, and condition of black soil farmland productivity is a major obstacle to the development of strategies for [...] Read more.
Degradation of black soil areas is a serious threat to national food security and ecological safety; nevertheless, the current lack of information on the location, size, and condition of black soil farmland productivity is a major obstacle to the development of strategies for the sustainable utilization of black soil resources. We synthesized remote sensing data and geospatial thematic data to construct a farmland productivity assessment indicator system to assess the productivity of black soil cropland at the regional scale. Furthermore, we conducted research on the spatial differentiation patterns and a spatial autocorrelation analysis of the assessment results. We found that farmland productivity within this region exhibited a decline pattern from south to north, with superior productivity in the east as opposed to the west, and the distribution follows a “spindle-shaped” pattern. Notably, the Songnen and Sanjiang typical black soil subregions centrally hosted about 46.17% of high-quality farmland and 53.51% of medium-quality farmland, while the Mondong typical black soil subregion in the west predominantly consisted of relatively low-quality farmland productivity. Additionally, farmland productivity displayed a significant positive spatial correlation and spatial clustering, with more pronounced fluctuations in the northeast–southwest direction. The developed indicator system for farmland productivity can illustrate the spatial differentiation and thereby offer a valuable reference for the sustainable management of farmland resources. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

20 pages, 4454 KiB  
Article
Machine Learning-Based Estimation of Daily Cropland Evapotranspiration in Diverse Climate Zones
by Changmin Du, Shouzheng Jiang, Chuqiang Chen, Qianyue Guo, Qingyan He and Cun Zhan
Remote Sens. 2024, 16(5), 730; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs16050730 - 20 Feb 2024
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1746
Abstract
The accurate prediction of cropland evapotranspiration (ET) is of utmost importance for effective irrigation and optimal water resource management. To evaluate the feasibility and accuracy of ET estimation in various climatic conditions using machine learning models, three-, six-, and nine-factor combinations (V3, V6, [...] Read more.
The accurate prediction of cropland evapotranspiration (ET) is of utmost importance for effective irrigation and optimal water resource management. To evaluate the feasibility and accuracy of ET estimation in various climatic conditions using machine learning models, three-, six-, and nine-factor combinations (V3, V6, and V9) were examined based on the data obtained from global cropland eddy flux sites and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) remote sensing data. Four machine learning models, random forest (RF), support vector machine (SVM), extreme gradient boosting (XGB), and backpropagation neural network (BP), were used for this purpose. The input factors included daily mean air temperature (Ta), net radiation (Rn), soil heat flux (G), evaporative fraction (EF), leaf area index (LAI), photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD), vapor pressure deficit (VPD), wind speed (U), and atmospheric pressure (P). The four machine learning models exhibited significant simulation accuracy across various climate zones, reflected by their global performance indicator (GPI) values ranging from −3.504 to 0.670 for RF, −3.522 to 1.616 for SVM, −3.704 to 0.972 for XGB, and −3.654 to 1.831 for BP. The choice of suitable models and the different input factors varied across different climatic regions. Specifically, in the temperate–continental zone (TCCZ), subtropical–Mediterranean zone (SMCZ), and temperate zone (TCZ), the models of BPC-V9, SVMS-V6, and SVMT-V6 demonstrated the highest simulation accuracy, with average RMSE values of 0.259, 0.373, and 0.333 mm d−1, average MAE values of 0.177, 0.263, and 0.248 mm d−1, average R2 values of 0.949, 0.819, and 0.917, and average NSE values of 0.926, 0.778, and 0.899, respectively. In climate zones with a lower average LAI (TCCZ), there was a strong correlation between LAI and ET, making LAI more crucial for ET predictions. Conversely, in climate zones with a higher average LAI (TCZ, SMCZ), the significance of the LAI for ET prediction was reduced. This study recognizes the impact of climate zones on ET simulations and highlights the necessity for region-specific considerations when selecting machine learning models and input factor combinations. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

25 pages, 11420 KiB  
Article
Spatiotemporal Characteristics of Actual Evapotranspiration Changes and Their Climatic Causes in China
by Qin Dai, Hong Chen, Chenfeng Cui, Jie Li, Jun Sun, Yuxin Ma, Xuelian Peng, Yakun Wang and Xiaotao Hu
Remote Sens. 2024, 16(1), 8; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs16010008 - 19 Dec 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1102
Abstract
As the main expenditure item in water balance, evapotranspiration has an important impact on the surface ecosystem. Assessing the impact of changes in meteorological elements on evapotranspiration is essential to identify the spatiotemporal heterogeneity of hydrographic responses to climate changes. Based on the [...] Read more.
As the main expenditure item in water balance, evapotranspiration has an important impact on the surface ecosystem. Assessing the impact of changes in meteorological elements on evapotranspiration is essential to identify the spatiotemporal heterogeneity of hydrographic responses to climate changes. Based on the actual evapotranspiration (ETa) product (GPR-ET) generated by Gaussian process regression (GPR), as well as temperature and precipitation datasets, our study employed various statistical analysis methods, including geographic detector, the center of gravity migration model, spatial variation coefficients, and partial differential models, to investigate the spatiotemporal variation in ETa in China from 2000 to 2018. The analysis covered future trends in ETa changes and the contribution of meteorological factors. Our results showed that the ETa in northwest China had stronger spatial heterogeneity and the mean value was generally lower than that in the southeast. But the center of gravity of ETa was shifting towards the northwest. In most areas, the future trend was expected to be inconsistent with the current stage. ETa in the regions of north and west was mainly driven by precipitation, while its increase in southeast China was largely attributed to temperature. In addition to spatial variations, the joint enhancement effect of temperature and precipitation on ETa exists. According to the contribution analysis, precipitation contributed more to the change in ETa than temperature. These findings have enhanced our comprehension of the contribution of climate variability to ETa changes, providing scientific proof for the optimization apportion of future water resources. Full article
Show Figures

Graphical abstract

17 pages, 6188 KiB  
Article
Evaluation of Ecosystem Water Use Efficiency Based on Coupled and Uncoupled Remote Sensing Products for Maize and Soybean
by Lingxiao Huang, Meng Liu and Na Yao
Remote Sens. 2023, 15(20), 4922; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15204922 - 12 Oct 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1231
Abstract
Accurate quantification of ecosystem water use efficiency (eWUE) over agroecosystems is crucial for managing water resources and assuring food security. Currently, the uncoupled Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) product is the most widely applied dataset for simulating local, regional, and global eWUE across [...] Read more.
Accurate quantification of ecosystem water use efficiency (eWUE) over agroecosystems is crucial for managing water resources and assuring food security. Currently, the uncoupled Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) product is the most widely applied dataset for simulating local, regional, and global eWUE across different plant functional types. However, it has been rarely investigated as to whether the coupled product can outperform the uncoupled product in eWUE estimations for specific C4 and C3 crop species. Here, the eWUE as well as gross primary production (GPP) and evapotranspiration (ET) from the uncoupled MODIS product and the coupled Penman–Monteith–Leuning version 2 (PMLv2) product were evaluated against the in-situ observations on eight-day and annual scales (containing 1902 eight-day and 61 annual samples) for C4 maize and C3 soybean at the five cropland sites from the FLUXNET2015 and AmeriFlux datasets. Our results show the following: (1) For GPP estimates, the PMLv2 product showed paramount improvements for C4 maize and slight improvements for C3 soybean, relative to the MODIS product. (2) For ET estimates, both products performed similarly for both crop species. (3) For eWUE estimates, the coupled PMLv2 product achieved higher-accuracy eWUE estimates than the uncoupled MODIS product at both eight-day and annual scales. Taking the result at an eight-day scale for example, compared to the MODIS product, the PMLv2 product could reduce the root mean square error (RMSE) from 2.14 g C Kg−1 H2O to 1.36 g C Kg−1 H2O and increase the coefficient of determination (R2) from 0.06 to 0.52 for C4 maize, as well as reduce the RMSE from 1.33 g C Kg−1 H2O to 0.89 g C Kg−1 H2O and increase the R2 from 0.05 to 0.49 for C3 soybean. (4) Despite the outperformance of the PMLv2 product in eWUE estimations, both two products failed to differentiate C4 and C3 crop species in their model calibration and validation processes, leading to a certain degree of uncertainties in eWUE estimates. Our study not only provides an important reference for applying remote sensing products to derive reliable eWUE estimates over cropland but also indicates the future modification of the current remote sensing models for C4 and C3 crop species. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

22 pages, 1757 KiB  
Article
Estimation of Soil Moisture Using Multi-Source Remote Sensing and Machine Learning Algorithms in Farming Land of Northern China
by Quanshan Liu, Zongjun Wu, Ningbo Cui, Xiuliang Jin, Shidan Zhu, Shouzheng Jiang, Lu Zhao and Daozhi Gong
Remote Sens. 2023, 15(17), 4214; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15174214 - 27 Aug 2023
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3192
Abstract
Soil moisture is a key parameter for the circulation of water and energy exchange between surface and the atmosphere, playing an important role in hydrology, agriculture, and meteorology. Traditional methods for monitoring soil moisture suffer from spatial discontinuity, time-consuming processes, and high costs. [...] Read more.
Soil moisture is a key parameter for the circulation of water and energy exchange between surface and the atmosphere, playing an important role in hydrology, agriculture, and meteorology. Traditional methods for monitoring soil moisture suffer from spatial discontinuity, time-consuming processes, and high costs. Remote sensing technology enables the non-destructive and efficient retrieval of land information, allowing rapid soil moisture monitoring to schedule crop irrigation and evaluate the irrigation efficiency. Satellite data with different resolutions provide different observation scales. Evaluating the accuracy of estimating soil moisture based on open and free satellite data, as well as exploring the comprehensiveness and adaptability of different satellites for soil moisture temporal and spatial observations, are important research contents of current soil moisture monitoring. The study utilized three types of satellite data, namely GF-1, Landsat-8, and GF-4, with respective temporal and spatial resolutions of 16 m (every 4 days), 30 m (every 16 days), and 50 m (daily). The gray relational analysis (GRA) was employed to identify vegetation indices that selected sensitivity to soil moisture at varying depths (3 cm, 10 cm, and 20 cm). Then, this study employed random forest (RF), Extra Tree (ETr), and linear regression (LR) algorithms to estimate soil moisture at different depths with optical satellite data sources. The results showed that the accuracy of soil moisture estimation was different at different growth stages. The model accuracy exhibited an upward trend during the middle and late growth stages, coinciding with higher vegetation coverage; however, it demonstrated a decline in accuracy during the early and late growth stages due to either the absence or limited presence of vegetation. Among the three satellite images, the vegetation indices derived from GF-1 exhibited were more sensitive to vegetation characteristics and demonstrated superior soil moisture estimation accuracy (with R2 ranging 0.129–0.928, RMSE ranging 0.017–0.078), followed by Landsat-8 (with R2 ranging 0.117–0.862, RMSE ranging 0.017–0.088). The soil moisture estimation accuracy of GF-4 was the worst (with R2 ranging 0.070–0.921, RMSE ranging 0.020–0.140). Thus, GF-1 is suitable for vegetated areas. In addition, the ETr model outperformed the other models in both accuracy and stability (ETr model: R2 ranging from 0.117 to 0.928, RMSE ranging from 0.021 to 0.091; RF model: R2 ranging from 0.225 to 0.926, RMSE ranging from 0.019 to 0.085; LR model: R2 ranging from 0.048 to 0.733, RMSE ranging from 0.030 to 0.144). Utilizing GF-1 is recommended to construct the ETr model for assessing soil moisture variations in the farming land of northern China. Therefore, in cases where there are limited ground sample data, it is advisable to utilize high-spatiotemporal-resolution remote sensing data, along with machine learning algorithms such as ETr and RF, which are suitable for small samples, for soil moisture estimation. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

24 pages, 12920 KiB  
Article
Response of Evapotranspiration (ET) to Climate Factors and Crop Planting Structures in the Shiyang River Basin, Northwestern China
by Xueyi Yang, Xiaojing Shi, Yaling Zhang, Fei Tian and Samuel Ortega-Farias
Remote Sens. 2023, 15(16), 3923; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15163923 - 8 Aug 2023
Viewed by 1394
Abstract
Evapotranspiration (ET) is an essential part of energy flow between the surface of the earth and the atmosphere, simultaneously involving the water, carbon, and energy cycles. It is mainly determined by climate, land use, and land cover changes. Additionally, there is still a [...] Read more.
Evapotranspiration (ET) is an essential part of energy flow between the surface of the earth and the atmosphere, simultaneously involving the water, carbon, and energy cycles. It is mainly determined by climate, land use, and land cover changes. Additionally, there is still a need for quantitative characterization of the impacts of climate factors and human activities on ET and regional water resource efficiency in arid and semiarid regions. Based on Landsat-8 remote sensing imagery and land use data, the crop planting structures in the Liangzhou District of the middle reaches of the Shiyang River Basin were identified using a multiband and multi-temporal approach in this study. Subsequently, the ET of major cash crops was inverted using the three-temperature model. This research quantitatively describes the responses of wheat and corn to the climate and human activities over a two-year period. Furthermore, the impact of crop planting structures and climatic factors on ET was elucidated. The results indicate that a combination of multi-temporal green and shortwave infrared 1 bands is the optimal spectral combination to extract the planting structures. Compared to 2019, the wheat area decreased by 23.27% in 2020, while the corn area increased by 5.96%. Both crops exhibited significant spatial heterogeneity in ET during the growing season. The typical daily range of ET for wheat was 0.4–7.2 mm/day, and for corn, it was 1.5–4.0 mm/day. Among the climatic factors, temperature showed the highest correlation with ET (R = 0.80, p ≤ 0.05). Our research findings provide valuable insights for the fine identification of crop planting structures and a better understanding of the response of ET to climatic factors and planting structures. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Other

Jump to: Research

14 pages, 4736 KiB  
Technical Note
Mapping Soil Organic Matter Using Different Modeling Techniques in the Dryland Agroecosystem of Huang-Huai-Hai Plain, Eastern China
by Hua Jin, Xuefeng Xie, Lijie Pu, Zhenyi Jia and Fei Xu
Remote Sens. 2023, 15(20), 4945; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15204945 - 13 Oct 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1217
Abstract
Accurately mapping the spatial distribution and variation of soil organic matter (SOM) is of great significance for guiding regional soil management. However, the applicability and prediction performance of machine learning techniques in dryland agroecosystems still needs to be further studied. In this study, [...] Read more.
Accurately mapping the spatial distribution and variation of soil organic matter (SOM) is of great significance for guiding regional soil management. However, the applicability and prediction performance of machine learning techniques in dryland agroecosystems still needs to be further studied. In this study, we collected a total of 733 topsoil samples from the farmland in Xiao County, Anhui Province, which is a typical dryland agroecosystem in the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain. Then, the environmental covariates were selected, and the ordinary kriging (OK), multiple linear stepwise regression (MLR), regression kriging (RK), radial basis function neural network (RBFNN), and random forest (RF) models were conducted to map the SOM content, and the optimal model was ascertained. The results demonstrated that the alkali-hydrolyzable nitrogen (26.11%), available potassium (17.73%), mean annual precipitation (13.26%), and pH (11.80%) were the main controlling factors affecting the spatial distribution of SOM in the study area. Meanwhile, the introduction of environmental covariates can effectively improve the SOM prediction accuracy, and the RF model (R2 = 0.48, MAE = 2.38 g kg−1, MRE = 12.99%, RMSE = 3.14 g kg−1) has a better performance than the RFBNN, MLR, RK, and OK methods. Although there are local differences in the spatial distribution of SOM predicted by the five methods, the overall spatial distribution of SOM was characterized by the low concentration area (13.44–20.00 g kg−1) distributed in the central and northwest of study area, and the high concentration area (24.00–28.95 g kg−1) distributed in the southeast. Overall, our study demonstrated that machine learning-based models could accurately predict the SOM content in dryland agroecosystem, and the produced maps function as baseline maps for sustainable agricultural management. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop