Using multitemporal RADARSAT-1 data to extract paddy rice structure in southern China

RADARSAT-1 data has been widely used to monitor paddy rice in the world since RADARSAT-1 satellite was launched in 1995. In China, Crop structure adjustment policy has brought great change of rice area. Government managers of agricultural industry need timely crop structure information to monitor the performance of implementing the crop structure adjustment policy. But crop structure information based on statistical data from reporting system cannot meet the urgent and timely needs of governors for rice structure information. RADARSAT-1 brought a new data source for extracting rice information with high accuracy. Using multitemporal RADARSAT data can obtain all rice area with different season in a farming year in certain area. This paper presents the methods of remote sensing for study on rice structure using multitemporal RADARSAT data. Then, this paper instructs and analyses the rice structure in the Wuhan city area in 2002.