Classifica(on
of
Agricultural
Land
on
the



West
Side
of
the
San
Joaquin
Valley



Daniel
Swain

UC
Davis,
Atmospheric
Science

NASA/NSERC
SARP
2010

7/27/2010

 Outline

•  General
overview
of
land

surface
classifica(on

•  Introduc(on
to
study
area

•  Methods

•  Results:
maps
and

features
of
interest

•  Usefulness
to
other
SARP

projects

•  Discussion

•  Summary
and
Conclusions

Mature
almond
orchard,
Paramount
Farms,
6/29/2010

 Classifica(on:
a
brief
overview


•  Goal:
to
qualita(vely
and
quan(ta(vely

describe
the
land
surface
in
a
par(cular
region

•  Use
sta(s(cal
analysis
to
assign
individual

elements
(pixels)
to
relevant,
pre‐defined

groups
containing
other
elements
with
similar

characteris(cs

Study
site

•  Paramount
Farms,
located
on
the
west

side
of
the
Southern
San
Joaquin
Valley

•  Terrain
is
very
flat,
and
climate
is
arid,

with
sparse
natural
vegeta(on

•  Primary
land
use
is
agricultural,
mainly

orchards

•  Two
tree
types:
almond
and
pistachio

•  Numerous
roads
intersect
the
study

area;
most
are
unpaved

•  There
are
no
natural
permanent
bodies

of
water,
but
two
major
irriga(on

channels
and
a
handful
of
holding

ponds
are
sca]ered
throughout

 Study
site
(con(nued)

•  DC‐8
overflights
occurred
on

6/29/2010

and
7/1/2010
(two

each
day)

DC‐8
Flight
Path

•  MASTER
instrument
sampled

upward
radiance
from
an
al(tude

of
~13,000
feet
AGL


•  Significant
cloud
cover
was
 Study
Site

absent
at
all
levels
over
the
study

site
during
each
sampling
period,
 N
which
increases
confidence
in
 W E
accuracy
of
data
(Hook
et
al.,
 
S
2001)

 Methods

•  Spectral
data
from
MASTER
processed
using
ENVI


•  Several
sta(s(cal
procedures
were
applied
to
the
data:

–  Principal
Components
Analysis
(PCA)

–  Minimum
Noise
Frac(on
(MNF)

–  3x3
pixel
smoothing
(median)


•  Preliminary
qualita(ve
classifica(on
based
on
informal

ground‐truth
verifica(on
from
6/28‐6/29
fieldwork

 Methods
(con(nued)

•  Mul(ple
classifica(on
algorithms
were
used:

–  Parallelepiped

–  Minimum
Distance

–  Maximum
Likelihood

–  Mahalanobis
Distance


• 
8
Regions
of
Interest
(ROIs)
were
defined,
and

representa(ve
“training”
areas
iden(fied
on
the

MASTER
imagery
based
on
qualita(ve
knowledge
of
the

study
area

 Classes
used

•  Almond
Trees

•  Young
Almond
Trees

•  Pistachio
Trees

•  Field
Crops

•  Bare
Earth

•  Water

•  Buildings

•  Paved
Surface

 Methods
(con(nued)

•  ROIs
were
manually
outlined

in
ENVI
(pixel
by
pixel,
where

necessary)

•  
Representa(ve
“training

polygons”
were
used
to

compile
sta(s(cs

characteris(c
of
each
land

surface
type

 Methods
(con(nued)

•  Very
high
resolu(on
photographs
from
Google
Earth

helped
to
verify
training
polygons
for
ROI
selec(on
in

the
study
area

 Methods
(con(nued)

•  Mahalanobis
Distance
produced
the
best
(least
noisy

and
most
accurate)
classifica(on
maps

–  Takes
covariance
between
spectral
bands
into
account
in

probability‐weighted
distance
calcula(ons
(Kefauver,
2010)

–  Works
well
with
mul(modal
distribu(ons
(in
this
case,

there
are
three
primary
tree
classes
with
dis(nct
spectral

signatures)


From
aiaccess.net

 Results

•  Successfully
able
to
differen(ate
between
the

three
primary
tree
classes
in
the
central
study
area

•  Outside
of
the
boundaries
delineated
in
the

previous
slide,
uncertainty
increases
since
ground‐
truth
verifica(on
did
not
occur
in
these
areas


Young
almond
trees,
Paramount
Farms,
6/30/2010

MASTER
true‐color
imagery
(6/29/2010)

Mahalanobis
distance
classifica(on


•  Almond
Trees

•  Young
Almond

Trees

•  Pistachio
Trees

•  Field
Crops

•  Bare
Earth

•  Water

•  Buildings

•  Paved
Surface

Mahalanobis
distance
classifica(on
(with
3x3
median)


•  Almond
Trees

•  Young
Almond

Trees

•  Pistachio
Trees

•  Field
Crops

•  Bare
Earth

•  Water

•  Buildings

•  Paved
Surface

Mahalanobis
distance
classifica(on
(annotated)


 Land
surface
area
by
class

40


35


30

Percent
of
total
area
(%)


25


20


15


10


5


0

Almond
Trees
 Bare
Earth
 Pistachio
Trees
 Young
Almond
 Field
Crops
 Paved
Surface
 Water
 Buildings

Trees

 Discussion

•  Difficulty
in
separa(ng
young
almond
trees

from
pistachio
trees

–  Both
regions
characterized
by
sparse
canopies

–  Rela(vely
large
frac(on
of
bare
earth
in
these
two

orchard
types
led
to
high
spa(al
variability


•  Mature/older
almond
orchards
were
also

characterized
by
increased
variability
(presumably
due

to
increased
tree
mortality
with
age),
but
separa(on

from
surrounding
younger
stands
not
a]empted
due
to

lack
of
ground
truth
in
these
areas

 Discussion
(con(nued)

•  Accuracy
was
assessed
by
comparing
each
classed
area
to

the
sta(s(cal
model
built
by
ENVI
for
each
ROI


•  A
random
sample
of
points
within
each
ROI
was
selected

to
compile
a
reference
dataset
against
which
the

automa(cally‐classed
areas
were
compared


•  The
degree
to
which
the
sta(s(cal
characteris(cs
of
both

the
defined
ROI
regions
and
the
automa(cally‐classed

regions
matched
the
reference
dataset
was
defined
as
the

accuracy
of
the
classifica(ons

 Classifica:on
accuracy
by
group

100


90


80

Percent
Accuracy
(%)


Algorithm
Accuracy


70
 User
Accuracy


60


50


40

Almond
Trees
Young
Almond
 Pistachio
 Field
Crops
 Bare
Earth
 Paved
Surface
 Buildings
 Water

Trees
 Trees
 Note:
overall
accuracy
=
92.4%

Applica(on
to
other
SARP
projects

•  Evapotranspira(on
(ET)
mapping

–  Use
of
proper
crop
coefficients
in
ET
model


•  Vegeta(on
and
water
indices


–  Correla(on
between
NDVI
and
crop
type


NDVI
(lep)
and
crop
type
(right).
Image
courtesy
of
Amanda
Rupiper.

 Summary
and
Conclusions

•  Successful
classifica(on
using
ENVI
for
the
study

area

•  Mahalanobis
Distance
appears
to
be
the
best

op(on
for
classifica(on
in
this
seqng

•  Different
tree
types
with
similar
canopy
extent

and
degree
of
open
space
can
be
difficult
to

separate,
even
if
different
species

•  Demonstrates
the
importance
of
ground‐based
or

qualita(ve
verifica(on,
even
in
rela(vely

homogeneous
agricultural
seqngs

 Sources

•  ENVI
(Version
4.7,
ITT
2009)
used
for
all

calcula(ons
and
mapping

•  Hook,
Simon
J.;
Myers,
Jeffrey
J.;
Thome,
Cur(s
J.;

Fitzgerald,
Michael;
Kahle,
Anne
B.
The
MODIS/
ASTER airborne simulator (MASTER) — a new 
instrument for earth science studies.
Remote

Sensing
of
the
Environment.
76,
93‐102. 
•  Kefauver,
Shawn.
“Mul(spectral
Classifica(on

Techniques.”
Powerpoint
presenta(on,
June

2010.

 Acknowledgements

•  MASTER
data
provided
by
NASA,
with
pre‐
processing
by
the
Airborne
Science
Program

•  Thanks

to
NSERC
for
sponsoring
SARP
2010
and

making
this
en(re
project
possible


•  Thanks
also
to
the
DC‐8
flight
crew

•  And
special
thanks
are
due
to
Shawn
Kefauver

and
the
rest
of
ET
group!

Ques(ons?