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SOIL & WATER MANAGEMENT & CONSERVATION

Effect of Soil Spectral Properties on Remote Sensing of Crop Residue Cover

^a ASRC Management Services, USDA-FAS Office of Global Analysis, 1400 Independence Ave. SW, Rm. 4646, Washington, DC 20250
^b USDA-ARS, Hydrology and Remote Sensing Lab., 10300 Baltimore Ave., Bldg. 007, Rm. 104 BARC-West, Beltsville, MD 20705-2325
^c Dep. of Crop and Soil Sciences, P O Box 646420, Washington State Univ., Pullman, WA 99164-6420

^* Corresponding author (guy.serbin{at}gmail.com).

Conservation tillage practices often leave appreciable amounts of crop residues on soil surfaces after harvesting and generally improve soil structure, enhance soil organic C (SOC) content, and reduce soil erosion. Remote sensing methods have shown great promise in efficiently estimating crop residue cover, and thus inferring soil tillage intensity. Furthermore, these tillage intensity estimates can be used in soil C models. Reflectance spectra of more than 4200 soils and 80 crop residues were measured in the laboratory across the 350- to 2500-nm wavelength region. Six remote sensing spectral indices were used to estimate crop residue cover: the Cellulose Absorption Index (CAI), the Lignin–Cellulose Absorption Index (LCA), the Normalized Difference Tillage Index (NDTI), the Normalized Difference Senescent Vegetation Index (NDSVI), and the Normalized Difference Indices 5 and 7 (NDI5 and NDI7, respectively). Soil mineralogy and SOC affected these spectral indices for crop residue cover more than soil taxonomic order, which generally had little effect on spectral reflectance. The values of the spectral indices for soils were similar within Land Resource Regions and, specifically, for Major Land Resource Areas. The CAI showed the best separation between soils and residues, followed by LCA and NDTI. Although NDSVI, NDI5, and NDI7 had significant overlaps between soil and residue index values, assessments of crop residue cover classes may be possible with local calibrations. Future satellite sensors should include appropriate bands for assessing crop residue and nonphotosynthetic vegetation.

Abbreviations: ASTER, Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer • AWiFS, Advanced Wide-Field Sensor • CAI, Cellulose Absorption Index • LCA, Lignin–Cellulose Absorption Index • LRR, Land Resource Region • MLRA, Major Land Resource Region • NDI, Normalized Difference Index • NDSVI, Normalized Difference Senescent Vegetation Index • NDTI, Normalized Difference Tillage Index • NDVI, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index • SOC, soil organic carbon • SWIR, shortwave infrared • TM, Thematic Mapper