The Use of Remote Sensing Data for Broad Acre Grain Crop Monitoring in South- East Australia
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THE USE OF REMOTE SENSING DATA FOR BROAD ACRE GRAIN CROP MONITORING IN SOUTH- EAST AUSTRALIA Isabel Patricia Maria Coppa A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Geospatial Science, School of Mathematical and Geospatial Sciences SET Portfolio, RMIT University Melbourne, Australia March 2006 DECLARATION The work in this thesis is to the best of my knowledge and belief, original except where acknowledged in the text. The author hereby declares that the contents of this thesis have not been submitted, either in whole or in part, for a degree of any kind at this or any other academic institution. _____________________________ Isabel Coppa March 2006 i DE USU RERUM EX LONGINQUO EMISSARUM UT AESTIMETUR QUALES SEGETES PER LATIFUNDIA PARTIUM AUSTRALIAE INTER MERIDIEM ET SOLIS ORTUM SPECTANTIUM SITA EVASURAE SINT Deo gratias ago qui hanc mihi copiam in gradum Philosophiae Doctoris studendi contulerit et qui meae viae sic faverit. Sit Ei soli omnis gloria. Spero ut haec studia rem rusticam hac, ut ita dicam, extraterrestria investigandi aetate promoveant, quibus usi agricolae segetibus pluribus ita frui possint ut orbi nostro non noceant et esurientes alamus. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all I would like to thank my supervisory panel: Peter Woodgate and Prof. Dr Tony Norton, RMIT University. Peter Woodgate has given tremendous support, encouragement and mentoring for this project, and my professional development. Therefore I am very grateful. The project would have never evolved as it has without Peter’s contribution. A big thank you to Prof. Dr Tony Norton for inviting me to join RMIT University, for his exceptional guidance, encouragement and support for the home working arrangement and maternity leave when our babies came along. It is very much appreciated! I also wish to express thanks and appreciation to RMIT University for the scholarship that I received and becoming the “home” where this research could prosper, not only academically, but also in CropView as a “real life” service offered to farmer; The GSI team at the Department of Geospatial Science, and in particular Charlie Andrews needs to be thanked for all his involvements of the 2001 CropView project. To the St Arnaud Farming Community: thank you for your assistance in this research! Without you this project would not have been possible! In this context a few farmers must be named, first and foremost the Postlethwaite family, in particular Neale- this family are amazing farmers and people! Thank you for your friendship and all that comes with it! Thank you for letting us dig in your paddocks and cut samples each time we showed up, for the neutron probe measurements and yield maps, and for sharing your knowledge and yummy dinners! The list could go on, and this research would never have been what it is without your support! There are more farming families to be thanked: Jon and Elizabeth Whykes –thank you for your support letting us use your paddocks also as “super-test-sites” and the refreshments, and Trevor Campbell- thanks for flying your aircraft and recording digital video imagery of paddocks each time our satellite obtained imagery in 1998! Thank you for the generous contribution of satellite data to SPOT Image, in particular Carl Mc Master (with the ADEMA grant), to the team at the European Space Agency iii (ESA) of giving us the privilege of principal investigator using ERS data in the AO3 project. Thank you for scientific advice to Prof. Dr Wieneke, University of Munich for assistance in project design, Dr. Rolf Richter, DLR on atmospheric corrections, and Prof. Kim Lowell, CRCSI for his invaluable advice on statistical issues. I thank the wonderful team at NRS at the former Department of Natural Resources & Environment (now called: Department of Sustainability and Environment) for their support of the ALMIS project: in particular Michael Conroy, Adam Choma, Luong Tran and John White from the Remote Sensing group, as well as Suzette Miller and Nik Dow for technical support. Furthermore I thank the visiting interns from the University of Munich, Germany namely Edgar Aigner, Christine Stigloher and Axel Pendorf for the many hours assisting with field work in fresh St Arnaud country air. Furthermore I thank David Pearce for turning my hand drafted flow charts into digital versions, Sonia Vengust for double checking the literature reference and Minn Stewart for assistance in document formatting. On the home front I want to express thanks to Jessica, Ruthie, Moyra and Sonia for all their help looking after my little children and keeping our household operational while I was working from home. Thanks to my parents and mother in law for their encouragement, and last but not least a very big thanks to my family Lorenzo, Francesca (5) and Leon (3) for all their love and support. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION………………………………………………………...i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS……………………………………………..iii TABLE OF CONTENTS……………………………………………….v LIST OF FIGURES…………………………………………………….xi LIST OF TABLES…………………………………………………….xix LIST OF ABBREVITIONS…………………………………………...xx ABSTRACT……………..………………………………………..….xxii 1. GENERAL INTRODUCTION............................................................1 1.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................1 1.2 Global developments in agriculture.....................................................................1 1.3 Challenges for agriculture and regional land management in Australia..............5 1.4 Aims and scope of thesis......................................................................................7 1.5 Thesis layout ........................................................................................................9 2. REMOTE SENSING APPLICATIONS IN PRECISION FARMING...............................................................................................11 2.1 Introduction........................................................................................................11 2.2 Evolution of Remote Sensing technologies and their application to agriculture ..................................................................................................................................12 2.2.1 Definition of Remote Sensing.....................................................................12 2.2.2 History of Remote Sensing.........................................................................12 2.2.3 Sensor specifications...................................................................................13 2.2.4 SPOT satellite .............................................................................................14 2.2.5 Physical and biophysical interaction of vegetation and EM.......................16 2.2.6 Crop classification ......................................................................................20 2.2.7 Selected Vegetation Indices and their use in mapping crop parameters.....20 2.2.8 The use of Remote Sensing to map pests, diseases and weeds...................25 2.2.9 The use of Remote Sensing for soil mapping.............................................27 2.3 The emergence of Precision Farming and the relevance of Remote Sensing information...............................................................................................................29 v 2.3.1 Definition of Precision Farming .................................................................29 2.3.2 History of Precision Farming......................................................................29 2.3.3 Technology used in Precision Farming ......................................................30 2.3.4 Information needs of Precision Agriculture and complimentary Remote Sensing capabilities..............................................................................................33 2.3.5 Status assessment of the use of Remote Sensing for crop monitoring .......33 2.3.6 Review of currently available crop monitoring systems.............................34 2.4 Issues and challenges .........................................................................................36 2.4.1 Near real time data delivery........................................................................37 2.4.2 Imagery .......................................................................................................37 2.4.3 Need for radiometric and atmospheric correction ......................................37 2.4.4 Lack of localized scientifically validated models.......................................38 2.4.5 Development of technology........................................................................38 2.4.6 Technology transfer ....................................................................................39 2.4.7 Adoption of the technology ........................................................................39 2.5 Significance of this research ..............................................................................42 2.6 Conclusions........................................................................................................42 3. BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT FOR THE STUDY.................45 3.1 Introduction........................................................................................................45 3.2 The ALMIS concept ..........................................................................................45 3.3 South east Australian case study region.............................................................46 3.3.1 Climate in the Gooroc