Evaluation of Sentinel-1A C-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar for Citrus CROP Classification in Florida, United States

摘要

Optical based remote sensing plays an important role in citrus crop change monitoring in Florida, United States (U.S). However, persistent cloud cover during the summer growing season in Florida often limits the application of optical sensors. Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) has the advantage over optical data by operating at wavelengths not impeded by cloud cover, rain or a lack of illumination. The objective of this study is to assess the effectiveness of using Sentinel-1A C-band SAR data for classifying citrus in Florida. Twelve individual citrus classifications produced using single date optical or SAR data, as well as multi-date optical and SAR data fusion, are designed and tested. It is found that the classification accuracies of Sentinel-l C-band SAR data are slightly lower than those of multi-temporal cloud free optical data (approximately 2.5% difference). However, the relatively comparable classification accuracy results indicate that the Sentinel-1 SAR is a useful alternative imagery source particularly in regions with persistent cloud cover.