Development of agri-environmental indicator off-season soil cover on arable land with satellite remote sensing imagery

The global coverage Earth Observation (EO) systems provide an effective means for large-scale land cover monitoring. Agricultural monitoring has long been utilising EO for e.g. crop type mapping and crop yield

forecasting. The current open access radar and optical remote sensing satellite imagery from the Sentinel satellites in European Union’s Copernicus programme, has high spatial and temporal resolution and contains a wealth of information on soil cover. Need for more detailed information on land-use on agricultural soils is acknowledged among both agricultural and environmental protection practitioners; the stakeholders in agriculture are interested in sustainable soil management practices to mitigate nutrient and terrestrially fixed carbon runoff from soil. The stakeholders in environmental protection seek methods to mitigate eutrophication and are interested to track nitrogen, phosphorus, and also terrestrially fixed carbon transport and retention processes. Additionally, information is needed for research, monitoring administration and policy makers.

The objective is to enhance the spatial and temporal resolution of off-season soil cover statistics. Specifically, we aim to establish a pilot case of an automated process for improved off-season soil cover statistics by merging Earth Observation, administrative and agrometeorological data. Furthermore, we will explore possibilities to publish the new agri-environmental indicator in the most usable formats and channels, in automated pipelines for target groups. The information should be available to everyone for decision-making purposes, research and debate in an interactive and easily understandable way.