U.S. flagAn official website of the United States government
                    Here's how you know **Official websites use .gov**
                            
                            A **.gov** website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
 **Secure .gov websites use HTTPS**
                            
                            A **lock** (                            
                              A locked padlock                                                      
                            
                            ) or **https://** means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.


Menu Agricultural Research Service
						
                    U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
 close



Research
                Research Home
                            National Programs
                            Research Projects
                            Scientific Manuscripts
                            International Engagement
                            Scientific Software/Models
                            Databases and Datasets
                            Office of Scientific Quality Review
            Media
                News & Features
                            Multimedia
                            Briefing Room
                            Down on the Farm
                            Press Room
                            Science in Your Shopping Cart
                            Scientific Discoveries
                            Tellus
                            Under the Microscope
            About ARS
                About ARS Home
                            Staff Directory
                            Labs and Research Centers (Map)
                            Headquarter Offices
                            Organizational Chart
                            Employee Services (REE Employees Only)
                            Office of Outreach, Diversity, and Equal Opportunity
            Work With Us
                Work With Us Home
                            ARS Vacancies at USAJOBS
                            Careers at ARS Information
                            Scientific Collaborations
                            Extramural Agreements
                            1890 Faculty Research Sabbatical ProgramSearch small
                    Search
            
            ARS Home
                                About ARS
                                Contact Us




ARS Home Research Publications at this Location





- ARS National Programs
- Search for a scientific manuscript
- Search for a research project
- ARS Software
- Programs and Projects
- Collaborations
- Subjects of Investigation
- Publications

Title:   Author  item
                                            Hively, Wells

                                                         - *Dean*item
                                            McCarty, Gregoryitem
                                            Lang, Meganitem
                                            BANDARU, VARAPRASAD - UNIVERSITY OF MARYLANDitem
                                            KIM, ANDREW - UNIVERSITY OF MARYLANDitem
                                            Sadeghi, Ali
  Submitted to: National Sedimentaton Laboratory (NSL)- 50 Years of Soil & Water Research in a Changing Agricultural Environment
                                    Publication Type: Proceedings
                                    Publication Acceptance Date: 5/2/2008
                                    Publication  Date: 9/15/2008
                                    Citation: Hively, W.D., McCarty, G.W., Lang, M.W., Bandaru, V., Kim, A., Sadeghi, A.M. 2008. Developing crop rotation maps from satellite imagery for use in modeling water quality in the Choptank River Watershed. In: Proceedings of the National Sedimentation Laboratory - 50 Years of Soil and Water Research in a Changing Agricultural Environment, September 3-5, 2008, Oxford, Mississippi. 2008 CDROM.Interpretive Summary:
                                Technical Abstract: Current water quality models such as AnnAGNPS and SWAT run on input data layers that derive topographic features from realistic landscape maps, but land use coverage is often derived only from aggregated county-level statistics that are translated into landscape maps in a semi-random fashion.  In the course of our studies in the Choptank River Watershed Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) we have accumulated a three-year set of quarterly SPOT satellite images that we are using to monitor crop rotation and agricultural practices on farms within our study area.  Through image classification we are able to identify crop types in the landscape (maize; soybean; wheat/soybean double crop; vegetated fallow; bare fallow) with an initial classification accuracy of 77%. As the project advances, methods will be developed to improve classification accuracy.  Resulting maps can be used to provide realistic, distributed input data layers that are expected to improve the accuracy of water quality models through the incorporation of spatially-precise landscape metrics particular to individual crop types, such as erodibility and application and loss of nutrients and pesticides.  We are also using the data to investigate regional patterns of crop rotation and the temporal niches that farmers find suitable for growing winter cover crops. This approach can also be used to monitor changes in the rotation patterns caused by the distortions in commodity markets resulting from bioenergy production.


Return to top


Connect with ARS Sign up


ARS Home
                            USDA.gov
                            Plain Writing
                            Policies & Links
                            Civil Rights Statements
                            FOIA
                            Accessibility Statement
                            Privacy Policy
                            Non-Discrimination Statement
                            Quality of Information
                            USA.gov
                            WhiteHouse.gov