Hierarchical Classification of Soybean in the Brazilian Savanna Based on Harmonized Landsat Sentinel Data

Author(s)

Parreiras, Taya Cristo ; Bolfe, Edson Luis ; Dantas Chaves, Michel Eustaquio ; Sanches, Ieda Del'Arco ; Sano, Edson Eyji ; Victoria, Daniel de Castro ; Bettiol, Giovana Maranhao ; Vicente, Luiz Eduardo

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: REMOTE SENSING; v. 14, n. 15, p. 22-pg., 2022-08-01.

Abstract

The Brazilian Savanna presents a complex agricultural dynamic and cloud cover issues; therefore, there is a need for new strategies for more detailed agricultural monitoring. Using a hierarchical classification system, we explored the Harmonized Landsat Sentinel-2 (HLS) dataset to detect soybean in western Bahia, Brazil. Multispectral bands (MS) and vegetation indices (VIs) from October 2021 to March 2022 were used as variables to feed Random Forest models, and the performances of the complete HLS time-series, HLSS30 (harmonized Sentinel), HLSL30 (harmonized Landsat), and Landsat 8 OLI (L8) were compared. At Level 1 (agricultural areas x native vegetation), HLS, HLSS30, and L8 produced identical models using MS + VIs, with 0.959 overall accuracies (OA) and Kappa of 0.917. At Level 2 (annual crops x perennial crops x pasturelands), HLS and L8 achieved an OA of 0.935 and Kappa > 0.89 using only VIs. At Level 3 (soybean x other annual crops), the HLS MS + VIs model achieved the best performance, with OA of 0.913 and Kappa of 0.808. Our results demonstrated the potential of the new HLS dataset for medium-resolution mapping initiatives at the crop level, which can impact decision-making processes involving large-scale soybean production and agricultural sustainability. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 19/26222-6 - Agricultural mapping in the Cerrado via conbined use of multisensor images
• Grantee: Édson Luis Bolfe
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• FAPESP's process: 21/07382-2 - Use of dense Sentinel-2/MSI time series and machine learning algorithms to improve crop monitoring in the Cerrado biome
• Grantee: Michel Eustáquio Dantas Chaves
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral