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Title: Building a data set over 12 globally distributed sites to support the development of agriculture monitoring applications with Sentinel-2

Author
item BONTEMPS, SOPHIE - Catholic University Of Leuven
item ARIAS, MARCELA - Center For The Study Of The Biosphère From Space(CESBIO)
item CARA, COSMIN - Cs Romania
item DEDIEU, GERAD - Center For The Study Of The Biosphère From Space(CESBIO)
item GUZZONATO, ERIC - Cs, Systemes D'Information
item HAGOLLE, OLIVIER - Center For The Study Of The Biosphère From Space(CESBIO)
item INGLADA, JORDI - Center For The Study Of The Biosphère From Space(CESBIO)
item MATTON, NICOLAS - Catholic University Of Leuven
item MORIN, DAVID - Center For The Study Of The Biosphère From Space(CESBIO)
item POPESCU, RAMONA - Cs Romania
item RABAUTE, THIERRY - Cs, Systemes D'Information
item SAVINAUD, MICKAEL - Cs, Systemes D'Information
item SEPULCRE, GUADALUPE - Catholic University Of Leuven
item VALERO, SILVIA - Center For The Study Of The Biosphère From Space(CESBIO)
item BHUTTA, IJAZ - Pakistan Space & Upper Atmosphere Research Commission
item BEGUE, AGNES - Centro De Cooperation Internationale En Recherche Agronomique Pour Le Development (CIRAD)
item BINGFANG, WU - Chinese Academy Of Sciences
item DE ABELLEYRA, DIEGO - Instituto Nacional De Tecnologia Agropecuaria
item DIARRA, ALHOUSSEINE - Universite Cadi Ayyad
item DUPUY, STEPHANE - Centro De Cooperation Internationale En Recherche Agronomique Pour Le Development (CIRAD)
item French, Andrew
item AKHTAR, IBRAR - Pakistan Space & Upper Atmosphere Research Commission
item KUSSUL, NATALIIA - Space Research Institute
item LEBOURGEOIS, VALENTINE - Centro De Cooperation Internationale En Recherche Agronomique Pour Le Development (CIRAD)
item LEPAGE, MICHEL - Center For The Study Of The Biosphère From Space(CESBIO)
item NEWBY, TERRY - Agricultural Research Council Of South Africa
item SAVIN, IGOR - Dokuchaev Soil Science Institute
item VERON, SANTIAGO - Instituto Nacional De Tecnologia Agropecuaria
item KOETZ, BENJAMIN - Laboratoire Mixte International
item DEFOURNY, PIERRE - Catholic University Of Leuven

Submitted to: Remote Sensing
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/16/2015
Publication Date: 12/2/2015
Citation: Bontemps, S., Arias, M., Cara, C., Dedieu, G., Guzzonato, E., Hagolle, O., Inglada, J., Matton, N., Morin, D., Popescu, R., Rabaute, T., Savinaud, M., Sepulcre, G., Valero, S., Bhutta, I.A., Begue, A., Bingfang, W., De Abelleyra, D., Diarra, A., Dupuy, S., French, A.N., Akhtar, I.H., Kussul, N., Lebourgeois, V., Lepage, M., Newby, T., Savin, I., Veron, S.R., Koetz, B., Defourny, P. 2015. Building a data set over 12 globally distributed sites to support the development of agriculture monitoring applications with Sentinel-2. Remote Sensing. 7(12):16062-16090. doi: 10.3390/rs7215815.

Interpretive Summary: Accurate accounting of world agricultural productivity is critical for monitoring and forecasting food supplies. The only way to accomplish this is with use of spaceborne remote sensing, which can provide repeated quantitative images needed to map the extent and timing of crops throughout the growing season. To date, such remote sensing data have been lacking. Existing observations may have good spatial resolution but can't be obtained frequently, or they are obtained frequently but have coarse resolution. The Sentinel-2 mission aims to reduce these problems by collecting frequent and higher resolution data over agricultural lands. To prepare for the mission observations were collected with a surrogate platform, namely the SPOT4 satellite, in 2013. Observations from 12 globally distributed agricultural sites were collected, processed and interpreted for crop type, cover density and extent. Results from this study will be important for scientists developing algorithms needed for the Sentinel-2 project.

Technical Abstract: Developing better agricultural monitoring capabilities based on Earth Observation data is critical for strengthening food production information and market transparency. The coming Sentinel-2 mission has the optimal capacity for regional to global agriculture monitoring in terms of resolution (10-20 meter), revisit frequency (5 days) and coverage (global). In this context, the European Space Agency launched in 2014 the “Sentinel-2 for Agriculture” project, which aims at preparing the exploitation of Sentinel-2 data for agriculture monitoring through the development of open source processing chains for relevant products. In order to meet this objective, the project generated an unprecedented data set, made of “Sentinel-2 like” time series and in-situ data acquired in 2013 over 12 sites globally distributed. Earth Observation time series are mostly built on the SPOT 4 (Take 5) data set, which was specifically designed to simulate Sentinel-2. They also include Landsat 8 and RapidEye imagery, as complementary data sources. Images were pre-processed to Level 2A and the resulting time series were validated. In-situ data about cropland and biophysical variables were shared by site managers, most of them belonging to the JECAM network. This data set allowed testing and comparing across sites the methodologies that will be at the core of the future Sen2-Agri system.