ESTIMATION OF BIOPHYSICAL PARAMETERS OF WHEAT CROP THROUGH MODIFIED WATER CLOUD MODEL USING SATELLITE DATA

Abstract. A modified water cloud model (WCM) was used to estimate the biophysical parameters of wheat crop using Sentinel-1A and Landsat-8 satellite images. The approach of combining the potential of SAR and optical data provided a new technique for the estimation of biophysical parameters of wheat crop. The biophysical parameters estimation was done using non-linear least squares optimization technique by minimizing the cost function between the backscattering coefficients (σ⁰) computed from the Sentinel-1A image and simulated by the modified WCM followed by look up table algorithm(LUT). The modified WCM integrates the full account of backscattering response on vegetation and bare soil by adding vegetation fraction. The modified WCM was found more sensitive than the original WCM because of incorporation of vegetation fraction (f_veg) derived from the Landsat-8 satellite data. The estimated values of leaf area index (LAI) by modified WCM at VV polarization shows good correlation (R² = 83.08 % and RMSE = 0.502 m²/m²) with the observed values. Whereas, leaf water area index (LWAI) shows comparatively poor correspondence (R² = 76 % and RMSE = 0.560 m²/m²) with the observed data in comparison to LAI estimation at VV polarization. The performance indices show that the modified WCM was found more accurate for the estimation of wheat crop parameters during the whole growth season in Varanasi district, India. Thus, the modified WCM shows significant potential for the accurate estimation of LAI and LWAI of wheat crop on incorporating both SAR and optical satellite data.