1. Page 1 CSISS Center for Spatial Information Science and Systems Remote-sensing-based Post-flood Crop Loss Assessment for Supporting Agricultural Decision Making—Requirements, Methods, and Gaps Liping Di Center for Spatial Information Science and Systems George Mason University 4400 University Drive, MSN 6E1 ldi@gmu.edu Phone: 703-993-6114 http://www.csiss.gmu.edu

2. Page 2 CSISS Center for Spatial Information Science and Systems Contents Post-flood crop decision making activities at USDA –NASS –RMA Requirements and Remote Sensing methods Resolution gaps –Spatial –Temporal

3. Page 3 CSISS Center for Spatial Information Science and Systems Introduction Flood is one of the worst natural disasters in the world. Flooding often causes significant crop loss over large agricultural areas in the United States. Two USDA agencies, the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) and Risk Management Agency (RMA), make decisions on flood crop loss assessment and recovery –NASS has the mandate to report crop loss after all flood events –RMA manages crop insurance policy and uses crop loss information to guide the creation of the crop insurance policy and the aftermath compensation.

4. Page 4 CSISS Center for Spatial Information Science and Systems Agricultural decision activities after a flood disaster

5. Page 5 CSISS Center for Spatial Information Science and Systems Shortcomings of current approaches Sparse samplings due to limited number of field investigators Subjective results due to the uneven knowledge of field investigators Slow response due to the length sample data collection and analysis process Difficulty in data integration due to data-interpolation and data-interpretation problems Lack of effective decision support tools to manage and integrate the diverse information.

6. Page 6 CSISS Center for Spatial Information Science and Systems The Proposed Remote Sensing Approach

7. Page 7 CSISS Center for Spatial Information Science and Systems Extraction of flood duration and frequency from surface water records 1. Cloud affected data 2. Missing data ( “ gap ” )

8. Page 8 CSISS Center for Spatial Information Science and Systems Crop Loss Seen in Remote Sensing Images

9. Page 9 CSISS Center for Spatial Information Science and Systems Yield loss

10. Page 10 CSISS Center for Spatial Information Science and Systems Compliance investigation Compliance investigation determines if a claim of crop loss meets the policy requirements. –(1) did the flood occur during the crop growing season? –(2) was there crop actually planted? –(3) how much is the crop loss? To answer these questions, we need the following information from remote sensing –(1) crop growing season –(2) flood event duration, –(3) crop condition profiles

11. Page 11 CSISS Center for Spatial Information Science and Systems Spot Check Spot check is to verify the appraisal for the loss. One of the major questions is to determine if the claim satisfies the condition “prevent planting”. Is the clause of prevent planting satisfied? Is replanting prevented? Does the farmer grow anything after the flood? To answer these questions, we need to have knowledge of the crop conditions after a flood event. –determine if the crop development actually affected by the flood. The information sought to support the decision are crop type, and crop condition profile against the normal crop condition profile. Need high-resolution images

12. Page 12 CSISS Center for Spatial Information Science and Systems Scale dependency It is found that the information requirements for decision- making have a range of scales depending on the level of decision-making. –For the state-level and federal-level overview, decision makers require complete information of flooded area, flood duration, affected crop area, and crop loss. –For specific crop loss claims or field investigation, decision makers need detailed information on flood frequency, crop history, and crop development. Information on historical floods specific to the interested spots and the crop development beyond the current flood is required for making better appraisal on crop loss and prompt fair compensation to insured farmers.

13. Page 13 CSISS Center for Spatial Information Science and Systems Gaps on Spatial Resolution For the federal and State-level decision making –MODIS/VIIRS + Landsat OLI should be enough. For spot check of individual claims, –Landsat OLI barely meets the requirements. –Resolution around 5-15 meters multiple spectral images are better

14. Page 14 CSISS Center for Spatial Information Science and Systems Gaps on temporal resolution The decision making requires the use of temporal profile Because of frequent cloud cover, even the daily temporal coverage of MODIS data has problems, for example, in determining flood frequency and duration Landsat’s 16-day coverage is difficult to establish the temporal profile Considering to integrate with SAR data