Preliminary study on cropping pattern mapping using MODIS EVI image time series

Cropping pattern plays an important role in effective and controllable agricultural management. In this study, the yearly 16-day composite MODIS Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) time series covering North China Plain were collected. Phenological features of winter wheat and its succession maize were extracted and analyzed. Re-green stage and peak stage(heading stage) are of great importance for winter wheat extraction, while peak stage (silking stage) and the skew parameter which characterizes the accumulated biomass difference before and after silking stage are the most important for maize extraction. The overall accuracy of wheat mapping is 88.38% when compared with official statistics at county level. The cropping system maps of wheat-maize, wheat-rice, and wheat-other crop are quite consistent with the rotation feasible map regarding climate distribution. The error is caused mostly by the coarse resolution of MODIS and the great spatial variability on a regional scale.