• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.182-196
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• 2023

Accurate and timely estimation of crop yields is crucial for various purposes, including global food security planning and agricultural policy development. Remote sensing techniques, particularly using vegetation indices (VIs), have show n promise in monitoring and predicting crop conditions. However, traditional VIs such as the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and enhanced vegetation index (EVI) have limitations in capturing rapid changes in vegetation photosynthesis and may not accurately represent crop productivity. An alternative vegetation index, the near-infrared reflectance of vegetation (NIRv), has been proposed as a better predictor of crop yield due to its strong correlation with gross primary productivity (GPP) and its ability to untangle confounding effects in canopies. In this study, we investigated the potential of NIRv in estimating crop yield, specifically for corn and soybean crops in major crop-producing regions in 14 states of the United States. Our results demonstrated a significant correlation between the peak value of NIRv and crop yield/area for both corn and soybean. The correlation w as slightly stronger for soybean than for corn. Moreover, most of the target states exhibited a notable relationship between NIRv peak and yield, with consistent slopes across different states. Furthermore, we observed a distinct pattern in the yearly data, where most values were closely clustered together. However, the year 2012 stood out as an outlier in several states, suggesting unique crop conditions during that period. Based on the established relationships between NIRv peak and yield, we predicted crop yield data for 2022 and evaluated the accuracy of the predictions using the Root Mean Square Percentage Error (RMSPE). Our findings indicate the potential of NIRv peak in estimating crop yield at the county level, with varying accuracy across different counties.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.481-494
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• 2011

Investigation of the $CO_2$ exchange between biosphere and atmosphere at regional, continental, and global scales can be directed to combining remote sensing with carbon cycle process to estimate vegetation productivity. NASA Earth Observing System (EOS) currently produces a regular global estimate of gross primary productivity (GPP) and annual net primary productivity (NPP) of the entire terrestrial earth surface at 1 km spatial resolution. While the MODIS GPP algorithm uses meteorological data provided by the NASA Data Assimilation Office (DAO), the sub-pixel heterogeneity or complex terrain are generally reflected due to coarse spatial resolutions of the DAO data (a resolution of $1{\circ}\;{\times}\;1.25{\circ}$). In this study, we estimated inputs retrieved from MODIS products of the AQUA and TERRA satellites with 5 km spatial resolution for the purpose of finer GPP and/or NPP determinations. The derivatives included temperature, VPD, and solar radiation. Seven AmeriFlux data located in the Corn Belt region were obtained to use for evaluation of the input data from MODIS. MODIS-derived air temperature values showed a good agreement with ground-based observations. The mean error (ME) and coefficient of correlation (R) ranged from $-0.9^{\circ}C$ to $+5.2^{\circ}C$ and from 0.83 to 0.98, respectively. VPD somewhat coarsely agreed with tower observations (ME = -183.8 Pa ~ +382.1 Pa; R = 0.51 ~ 0.92). While MODIS-derived shortwave radiation showed a good correlation with observations, it was slightly overestimated (ME = -0.4 MJ $day^{-1}$ ~ +7.9 MJ $day^{-1}$; R = 0.67 ~ 0.97). Our results indicate that the use of inputs derived MODIS atmosphere and land products can provide a useful tool for estimating crop GPP.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.132-139
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• 2007

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) regularly provides the eight-day gross primary productivity (GPP) at 1 km resolution. In this study, we evaluated the uncertainties of MODIS GPP caused by errors associated with the Data Assimilation Office (DAO) meteorology and a biophysical variable (fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation, FPAR). In order to recalculate the improved GPP estimate, we employed ground weather station data and reconstructed cloud-free FPAR. The official MODIS GPP was evaluated as +17% higher than the improved GPP. The error associated with DAO meteorology was identified as the primary and the error from the cloud-contaminated FPAR as the secondary constituent in the integrative uncertainty. Among various biome types, the highest relative error of the official MODIS GPP to the improved GPP was found in the mixed forest biome with RE of 20% and the smallest errors were shown in crop land cover at 11%. Our results indicated that the uncertainty embedded in the official MODIS GPP product was considerable, indicating that the MODIS GPP needs to be reconstructed with the improved input data of daily surface meteorology and cloud-free FPAR in order to accurately monitor vegetation productivity in Korea.