Developing Earth Observations Requirements for Global Agricultural Monitoring: Toward a Multi-Mission Data Acquisition Strategy

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dc.contributor.advisorJustice, Christopher Oen_US
dc.contributor.authorWhitcraft, Alyssa Kathleenen_US
dc.contributor.departmentGeographyen_US
dc.contributor.publisherDigital Repository at the University of Marylanden_US
dc.contributor.publisherUniversity of Maryland (College Park, Md.)en_US
dc.date.accessioned2014-06-24T05:53:38Z
dc.date.available2014-06-24T05:53:38Z
dc.date.issued2014en_US
dc.description.abstractGlobal food supply and our understanding of it have never been more important than in today's changing world. For several decades, Earth observations (EO) have been employed to monitor agriculture, including crop area, type, condition, and yield forecasting processes, at multiple scales. However, the EO data requirements to consistently derive these informational products had not been well defined. Responding to this dearth, I have articulated spatially explicit EO requirements with a focus on moderate resolution (10-70m) active and passive remote sensors, and evaluate current and near-term missions' capabilities to meet these EO requirements. To accomplish this, periods requiring monitoring have been identified through the development of agricultural growing season calendars (GSCs) at 0.5 degrees from MODIS surface reflectance. Second, a global analysis of cloud presence probability and extent using MOD09 daily cloud flags over 2000-2012 has shown that the early-to-mid agricultural growing season (AGS) - an important period for monitoring - is more persistently and pervasively occluded by clouds than is the late and non-AGS. Third, spectral, spatial, and temporal resolution data requirements have been developed through collaboration with international agricultural monitoring experts. These requirements have been spatialized through the incorporation of the GSCs and cloud cover information, establishing the revisit frequency required to yield reasonably clear views within 8 or 16 days. A comparison of these requirements with hypothetical constellations formed from current/planned moderate resolution optical EO missions shows that to yield a scene at least 70% clear within 8 or 16 days, 46-55% or 10-32% of areas, respectively, need a revisit more frequent than Landsat 7 & 8 combined can deliver. Supplementing Landsat 7 & 8 with missions from different space agencies leads to an improved capacity to meet requirements, with Resourcesat-2 providing the largest incremental improvement in requirements met. No single mission/observatory can consistently meet requirements throughout the year, and the only way to meet a majority (77-94% for ≥70% clear; 47-73% for 100% clear) of 8 day requirements is through coordination of multiple missions. Still, gaps exist in persistently cloudy regions and periods, highlighting the need for data coordination and for consideration of active EO for agricultural monitoring.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/15237
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.subject.pqcontrolledRemote sensingen_US
dc.subject.pqcontrolledAgricultureen_US
dc.subject.pqcontrolledGeographyen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledAgricultural monitoringen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledCloud coveren_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledData coordinationen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledEarth observationsen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledFood supplyen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledMODISen_US
dc.titleDeveloping Earth Observations Requirements for Global Agricultural Monitoring: Toward a Multi-Mission Data Acquisition Strategyen_US
dc.typeDissertationen_US

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