NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) 20010022792: Mapping Rice Production in China with AVHRR Imagery

92 Pages·3.1 MB·English

by  NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

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FINAL REPORT
MAPPING RICE PRODUCTION IN CHINA WITH AVHRR
IMAGERY
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: WILLIAM EMERY
NAG 5-3847
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This thesis entitled:
Coupling AVHRR Imagery with Biogeochemical Models of Methane Emission
from Rice Crops
written by Eleni. J. Paliouras
has been approved for the Department of Aerospace Engineering Science
Dr. William Emery
Dr. James Maslanik
Date
The final copy of this thesis has been examined by the signatories, and we find
that both the content and the form meet acceptable presentation standards of
scholarly work in the above mentioned discipline.
, 7
,.,
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Paliouras, Eleni. J. (Ph.D., Aerospace Engineering Science)
Coupling AVHRR Imagery with Biogeochemical Models of Methane Emission
from Rice Crops
Thesis directed by Dr. William Emery
Rice is a staple food source for much of the world and most of it is grown
in paddies which remain flooded for a large part of the growing season. This
anaerobic environment is ideal for the activities of methanogenic bacteria, that
are responsible for the production of methane gas, some of which is released into
the atmosphere. In order to better understand the role that rice cropping plays
in the levels of atmospheric methane, several models have been developed to
predict the methane flux from the paddies. These models generally utilize some
type of nominal plant growth curve based on one or two pieces of ground truth
data. Ideally, satellite data could be used instead to provide these models with
an estimate of biomass change over the growing season, eliminating the need for
related ground truth. A technique proposed to accomplish this is presented here,
and results that demonstrate its success when applied to rice cropping areas of
Texas are discussed. Also presented is a method for utilizing satellite data to map
rice cropping areas that could eventually aid in a scheme for populating a GIS-type
database with information on exact rice cropping areas. Such a database could
then be directly tied to the methane emission models to obtain flux estimates for
extensive regional areas.
Dedication
Tomy family, whoseloveandsupporthasalwayssustainedme.
Acknowledgements
I would first,like to thank Dr. William Emery and to expressmy deepest
appreciationfor the financialsupport andhis moral support of me through this
processof tremendouslearning. Without his encouragement,this project would
havelikely had a much different outcome. Thanks also go to the rest of my
.=
Committee members who have always Been willing to meet with me to talk about
my research and life in general. Sincere thanks go also to the folks at NASA-
Goddard who were responsible for funding this project.
The list of people who provided help, data, advice, and guidance to me
through the years of working on this project is extensive, and I hope that I
do not neglect to mention anyone. I first thank Dr. Yao Huang and Dr. Peter
van Bodegom for providing their models to me and for patiently answering all of
my questions, big and small. Thanks to Dr. Guowei Wu and Dr. Ted Wilson of
TAMU for providing the rice biomass data, and to Dr. Ron Sass of Rice University
for the methane flux data. Thanks also to Dr. Anna McChmg, Jaynen Cockrell,
and Dr. James Stansel of the Texas A&M Beaumont Research Station for their
help in collecting data and for their willingness to help me with other information
needed in my research. Thanks to Mike Shoppa, Randy Epps, and Larry Harbers
of the Lakeside Water Division of L_RA for their willingness to provide maps of
rice cropping areas and for allowing me to ride along with a water boss to see the
crops first-hand. Thanks to Dr. Sam Feagley and Dr. Tom Hallmark of TAMU for
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soilsinformation, andto Dr. Melba.CrawfordandSolarSmith of the University
ofTexasfor AVHRR data.
Deepestappreciation to Dr. Chuck Fowlerfor everything he hasdone to
help meovertheyearsandto DanBaldwin for_riting andmaintaining the code
usedto processall of the AVHRR data, andfor answeringzillions of questions
about it all. Thanksto Scott Bacomsfor beinga goodandfaithful help to mein
writing scripts to doeverything. Thanksto my fellow classmatesfor helping me
through the non-thesisportion of my degree(andlife in general)through their
humor,andtheir willingnessto talk andlisten.
Finally,although! will neverbeableexpressthereallevelofmyappreciation
for the loveandsupport hehasshownfor me,my warmestthanksto Christoph...
dankeschatz.
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Contents
Chapter
1 Introduction andBackground 1
1.1 AtmosphericMethane ........................ 2
1.2 RicePaddiesasaSourceof Methane ................ 4
1.3 Modeling MethaneEmissionfrom RicePaddies .......... 6
1.4 ResearchGoalsandObjectives.................... 7
2 RemoteSensingandthe AVHRR Sensor 9
2.1 Introduction .............................. 9
2.2 RemoteSensingofVegetation .................... 10
2.3 VegetationIndices .......................... 11
2.4 Application of AVHRR to theStudy ofRice ............ 13
2.4.1 Tile A\rHRR Sensor ..................... 13
2.4.2 ProcessingofAVHRR hnagery ............... 15
2.4.3 NDVI Time Series ...................... 17
3 Estimation of RiceBiomassUsingAVHRR 20
3.1 Introduction .............................. 20
3.2 RicePlant GroundTruth Sources.................. 20
3.3 Derived Biomass Estimates ...................... 21