Mapping crop residue cover using Adjust Normalized Difference Residue Index based on Sentinel-2 MSI data

Crop residues are effective for the prevention of soil erosion. The crop residue cover (CRC) can be mapped by remote sensing. Different morphologies of crop residue will affect the spectral reflectance, reducing the accuracy of CRC estimation by multispectral data. However, the influence of residue morphology is not fully considered on the accuracy of CRC mapping using satellite images. In addition, the spectral indices are easily saturated and less sensitive to high-density areas of crop residue. This study selected four maize planting sites to obtain hyperspectral reflectance and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) images. The effects of CRC and residue morphology on spectral reflectance were analyzed, and a new Residue Adjust Normalized Difference Residue Index (RANDRI) was proposed. UAV images were used to extract ground CRC data for training a CRC prediction model based on Sentinel-2 MSI data. Finally, the piecewise prediction model based on different residue indices was used to map CRC. The study results highlighted a linear relationship between the reflectance intersection of shortwave infrared 2 reflectance and red edge 3 of Sentinel-2 MSI with different residual morphologies, called the residue line. The model accuracy of RANDRI optimized by residual line parameters was better than that of the Normalized Difference Residue Index and Soil Adjust Normalized Difference Residue Index (SANDRI) in the high-density area of crop residue. RANDRI can weaken the influence of residue morphologies on modeling accuracy. The CRC spatial distribution by the piecewise SANDRI+RANDRI model was more consistent with CRC measured than that of the RANDRI models individually. The determination coefficient of the piecewise model was 0.82, and the relative error was 10.66%. The piecewise model can effectively improve the anti-saturation ability of the spectral indices. We suggest a rapid and accurate approach for monitoring the CRC and provide a more suitable CRC mapping strategy for high-density areas of crop residue using multispectral remote sensing data. • Crop residue cover was mapped using remote sensing. • The effects of crop residue cover and residue morphology on spectral reflectance were analyzed. • Novel crop residue cover prediction models were suggested and analyzed.