Estimating Emergence Date of Spring Small Grains Using Landsat Spectral Data1

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Abstract
Remotely acquired data using the Landsat satellite system provide a means for initiating crop growth simulation models and crop phenology models at a field level over a large geographic area. A model based on Landsat spectral data has been developed that estimates a spectral emergence of the crop at a pixel (field) level. This spectral emergence date is evaluated using dates of planting and emergence reported by farmers for their fields of spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) located in North and South Dakota. The differences between model predicted emergence date and farmer reported is found to be 4.9 ± 7.7 days. The model can provide a means of understanding the distribution of crop emergence across all pixels of a region. This knowledge of emergence date of spring grains from satellite data provides an ability to run crop development and yield prediction models at field level.