Earth Observations based agricultural monitoring over EEU countries: concept and 

first results of the SIGMA‐RBK project 

Space Research InstituteRussian Academy of Sciences

IAAE Inter‐Conference Symposium “Agricultural Transitions along the Silk RoadRestructuring, Resources and Trade in the Central Asia Region”, 4 ‐ 6 April 2016, Almaty, Kazakhstan

Bartalev Sergey, Loupian Evgeny, Plotnikov Dmitry and Tolpin Vladimir

Monthly Wheat Prices 1960-2011($/Metric Ton)Source: World Bank

Nominal wheat price in US $/metric Ton 

2008 Price hikesDroughts:

Australia & Ukraine

Landsat 1 Launched (1972)

1971/2’s price hikeDrought: Russia

2010/11Price hikesDrought: Russia

Recent volatility of Agricultural Prices

Becker-Reshef

Wheat

GEOGLAM is a « coordination programme », aiming at - supporting, strengthening and articulating existing efforts- developing capacities and awareness at national and global level- disseminating information

GEOGLAM Objectives• To strengthen the international community’s capacity to produce &

disseminate relevant, timely and accurate information and forecasts on agricultural production at national, regional and global scales, through reinforced use of Earth Observations

SIGMA Activities

4

Sites: IKI RAN, SRI, RADI, CIRAD, INTA, VITO, UCL, GEOSAS, AGHRYMET

Data ManagementData Management

Capacity BuildingCapacity Building

SIGMA ‐ Facts• Funded By The European 

Commission• Start 1 November 2013 – 30 March 

2017 • Agriculture AND Environment• 22 partners, 17 countries

– VITO, CIRAD, JRC, IIASA, Alterra, RADI, NMSC, DEIMOS, GeoSAS, RCMRD, Aghrymet, RCMRD, Sarvision, Sarmap, INTA, Geoville , UCL, EFTAS, FAO, ITC, GISAT, IKI, SRI

• Argentina, Ukraine, China, Russia, Africa, USA, Brazil, Vietnam, Belgium, …

• A Major European contribution to GEOGLAM

• Coordinated by VITO

Russian Ministry of Sciences supported the SIGMA project cooperation

• The project duration 2015‐2017

• The regional focus on the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) territory with priority major agricultural producing countries, such as Russia, Belarus and  Kazakhstan (SIGMA‐RBK project)

• The global focus on the JECAM test sites

The SIGMA‐RBK project main focuses • Extension of the VEGA‐GEOGLAM coverage to all JECAM sites

• Facilitation of Russian EO satellite data applications for agriculture monitoring

• Improvement of cropland mapping products and their geographical extension with main focus to the Eurasian Economical Union countries

• Regional parameterization of biophysical characteristics and crop yield retrieval methods using EO data assimilation to the crop grow models

• Promotion of the web‐based VEGA EO data analysis and processing tools for use by regional and global users

VEGA‐GEOGLAM Service

VEGA-GEOGLAM is developed by the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Space Research Institute in framework of the SIGMA project to facilitate combine EO and in-situ data analysis over the JECAM test-sites

vega.geoglam.ru

Main features of the VEGA‐GEOGLAM

(I) Multi‐annual EO data archive (daily update):• MODIS Surface Reflectance product (2000 ‐ ongoing)• PROBA‐V (2014 – ongoing)• Landsat‐TM/ETM+/OLI (2001‐ongoing)• Sentinel‐2 (2016 – ongoing)

(II) EO data pre‐processing:• cloud screening, cloud‐free image compositing, VI time‐series 

reconstruction

(III) Web‐based User data analysis tools• Multi‐spectral and multi‐temporal colour composition• NDVI and other VI temporal profiles extraction• Supervised and unsupervised image classification

In‐situ and auxiliary data integrated in the VEGA‐GEOGLAM

(I) In‐situ data for users’ defined polygons (fields):• Land‐use types• Crop types• Biophysical characteristics (LAI, FCover, biomass and etc)• Yield• Phenological stages (crops calendar)

(II) Meteorological data:• NCEP data (2000 – ongoing, 4 times per day update)

(III) Thematic maps• Land cover• Soil types• etc

The MODIS coverage available in the VEGA‐GEOGLAM

The VEGA‐GEOGLAM: Proba‐V daily data. An example for September 15, 2015 

The Landsat data coverage for the period Jan 1- March 27, 2016, The Landsat data archive contains data for the period since year 2000 with daily update.

The VEGA‐GEOGLAM: Landsat coverage

The Sentinel-2 data coverage for the period Jan 1 – March 27, 2016, The Sentinel-2 data archive is of daily update.

The VEGA‐GEOGLAM: Sentinel‐2 coverage

The VEGA‐GEOGLAM: KMSS Meteor‐M coverage 

The Meteor‐M  data  (for  both, № 1  and № 2)  coverage  for  the  period  June  1,  2015 ‐September 1, 2015. The Meteor‐M data archive contains data for the period since year 2011 with daily update. Also it is available for visualization, classification and downloading. 

The VEGA‐GEOGLAM: Canopus‐Vcoverage

The Canopus‐V data (MSS and PSS) coverage from 23 January, 2013 up to now. It is available for visualization only.

The VEGA‐GEOGLAM: Canopus‐V

This scene was acquired on 14, June, 2014, sensor MSS. It covers GEOGLAM test site in Argentina.

The VEGA‐GEOGLAM: Canopus‐V

This scene was acquired on 14, June, 2014, sensor PSS. It covers GEOGLAM test site in Argentina.

The VEGA‐GEOGLAM: MODIS detected active fires on croplands

The VEGA‐GEOGLAM: meteorological products example

The max temperature map generated by the VEGA-GEOGLAM tools for October 21, 2014

The VEGA‐GEOGLAM: meteorological products example

The accumulated precipitation map generated by the VEGA-GEOGLAM tools for October 19, 2014

The VEGA‐GEOGLAM field passport

A field passport contains summary on available EO, in-situ and meteorological data. The system provides for corresponding user in-situ data editing tools.

The VEGA-GEOGLAM provide access to NDVI multi-annual time-series data aggregated at users defined polygons (fields’ limits).

The VEGA‐GEOGLAM: MODIS data access and analysis

The VEGA‐GEOGLAM: NDVI profiles

NDVI dynamic for arable land

NDVI dynamic for hayfield

Ground collected LAI data

Using the VEGA-GEOGLAM tools users can define fields’ borders along with land use and crop types, as well as integrate into the system other ground collected data. Both EO and in-situ data can be jointly analysed using available tolls.

The VEGA‐GEOGLAM: EO and in‐situ data integration and analysis

Map interface contains the supervised and unsupervised image classification tools.

Images and spectral bands selection

Training sites creation

A classification method and parameters set

Classification results

The VEGA‐GEOGLAM EO data analysis tools: image classification

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The VEGA‐GEOGLAM EO data analysis tools: Supervised image classification

Arable lands mapping using multi‐annual time series of MODIS data

Arable lands mapping in Kazakhstan using MODIS data time‐series

Fallow fields mapping in Kazakhstan using MODIS data for years 2014 and 2015

Potential for collaboration within the SIGMA‐RBK project

• Providing access to the VEGA‐GEOGLAM data and analysis tools (http://vega.geoglam.ru/)

• Joint research and developments focused on land cover and land use mapping using remote sensing data 

• Joint validation/calibration of remote sensing data derived products 

Thank you for your attention !

The project «Development of automated methods and information technologies for global agricultural monitoring from satellites to support 

GEOGLAM initiative» supported by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation under the Contract 14.616.21.00163

Unique project ID ‐ RFMEFI61615X0063