Crop area estimation in Ukraine using satellite data within the MARS project

In this paper we discuss results of a pilot study conducted by Ukrainian Space Research Institute of NASU-NSAU, in collaboration with the MARS team of the JRC, to explore the feasibility, cost-efficiency and specific difficulties of crop area estimation assisted by satellite remote sensing in Ukraine. The study compares the cost efficiency of several image types (MODIS, Landsat TM, AWiFS, LISS-III and RapidEye) combined with a field survey on a stratified sample of square segments. Additionally, field data were collected “along the road” as training data for image classification algorithms. The study shows that TM images from Landsat 5 yielded the best results, in spite of the old age of this sensor. Among the sensors that were tested, only MODIS and Landsat TM reach cost-efficiency thresholds.