Combining crop modeling with remote sensing data using a particle filtering technique to produce real-time forecasts of winter wheat yields under uncertain boundary conditions

Abstract

Within-season crop yield forecasting at national and regional levels is crucial to ensure food security. Yet, forecasting is a challenge because of incomplete knowledge about the heterogeneity of factors determining crop growth, above all management and cultivars. This motivates us to propose a method for early forecasting of winter wheat yields in low-information systems regarding crop management and cultivars, and uncertain weather condition. The study was performed in two contrasting regions in southwest Germany, Kraichgau and Swabian Jura. We used in-season green leaf area index (LAI) as a proxy for end-of-season grain yield. We applied PILOTE, a simple and computationally inexpensive semi-empirical radiative transfer model to produce yield forecasts and assimilated LAI data measured in-situ and sensed by satellites (Landsat and Sentinel-2). To assimilate the LAI data into the PILOTE model, we used the particle filtering method. Both weather and sowing data were treated as random variables, acknowledging principal sources of uncertainties to yield forecasting. As such, we used the stochastic weather generator MarkSim® GCM to produce an ensemble of uncertain meteorological boundary conditions until the end of the season. Sowing dates were assumed normally distributed. To evaluate the performance of the data assimilation scheme, we set up the PILOTE model without data assimilation, treating weather data and sowing dates as random variables (baseline Monte Carlo simulation). Data assimilation increased the accuracy and precision of LAI simulation. Increasing the number of assimilation times decreased the mean absolute error (MAE) of LAI prediction from satellite data by ~1 to 0.2 m2/m2. Yield prediction was improved by data assimilation as compared to the baseline Monte Carlo simulation in both regions. Yield prediction by assimilating satellite-derived LAI showed similar statistics as assimilating the LAI data measured in-situ. The error in yield prediction by assimilating satellite-derived LAI was 7% in Kraichgau and 4% in Swabian Jura, whereas the yield prediction error by Monte Carlo simulation was 10 percent in both regions. Overall, we conclude that assimilating even noisy LAI data before anthesis substantially improves forecasting of winter wheat grain yield by reducing prediction errors caused by uncertainties in weather data, incomplete knowledge about management, and model calibration uncertainty.