Crop identification and area estimation through the combined use of satellite and field data for county Durham, northern England

Abstract

This thesis investigates the use of combined field and satellite data for crop identification and area estimation in County Durham, Northeast England. The satellite data were obtained by the Thematic Mapper (TM) sensor onboard Landsat-5 on 31 May 1985. The TM data were geometrically corrected to the British National Grid and the county boundaries were digitized in order to apply the methodology used in this study on a county basis. The field data were obtained by applying a stratified random sampling strategy. The area was subdivided into five main strata and forty four 1km(_^2) sample units were randomly chosen and fully surveyed by the author using a pre-prepared questionnaire. The field area measurements were taken and the final hectarage estimates were obtained for each crop. The research demonstrated the ability of Landsat-TM data to discriminate between agricultural crops in the study area. Results obtained emphasised that satellite data can be used for identification of agricultural crops over large geographic areas with small field sizes and different environmental and physical features. A land-cover classification system appropriate to the study area was designed. Using the Landsat-TM data, the study produced a classification map of thirteen land-cover types with more than 80% accuracy. The classification accuracy was assessed quantitatively by using the known land-use information obtained from the sample units visited during the field survey. The study analysed the factors which influenced the degree of separability between different agricultural crops since some crops were more clearly identified than others. Using a double sampling method based on the combination of both Landsat- TM and field data in regression analysis, a hectarage estimate was produced for each crop type in County Durham. The results obtained showed that the regression estimator was always more efficient than the field estimator. Crop area estimated by regression reduced the imprecision in all strata and was more efficient in some strata than others. This indicated that a gain in precision was achieved by using Landsat- TM in conjunction with the field data. The results illustrated that stratification based on an environmental criterion was an efficient approach as far as the the application of agricultural remote sensing in County Durham is concerned. The stratified approach allowed each stratum to be analysed separately, thereby lessening the reliance on cloud free imagery for the whole county on any given date. Furthermore, the results obtained by this study suggest that it is possibile to link remote sensing data with existing county based information systems on agricultural and land-use.