Estimation of winter wheat biomass based on remote sensing data at various spatial and spectral resolutions

Biomass can indicate plant growth status, so it is an important index for plant growth monitoring. This paper focused on the methodology of estimating the winter wheat biomass based on hyperspectral field data, including the LANDSAT TM and EOS MODIS images. In order to develop the method of retrieving the wheat biomass from remote sensed data, routine field measurements were initiated during periods when the LANDSAT satellite passed over the study region. In the course of the experiment, five LANDSAT TM images were acquired respectively at early erecting stage, jointing stage, earring stage, flowering stage and grain-filling stage of the winter wheat, and the wheat biomass was measured at each stage. Based on the TM and MODIS images, spectral indices such as NDVI, RDVI, EVI, MSAVI, SIPI and NDWI were calculated. At the same time, the hyperspectral field data was used to compute the normalized difference in spectral indices, red-edge parameters, spectral absorption, and reflection feature parameters. Then the correlation coefficients between the wheat biomass and spectral parameters of the experiment sites were computed. According to the correlation coefficients, the optimal spectral parameters for estimating the wheat biomass were determined. The bestfitting method was employed to build the relationship models between the wheat biomass and the optimal spectral parameters. Finally, the models were used to estimate the wheat biomass based on the TM and MODIS data. The maximum RMSE of estimated biomass was 66.403 g/m².