## 2 SAR Data, Field Data and Study Sites
### Study Site Characteristics  
The 13 monitoring sites cover a range of environments, crop establishment methods, water management practices and varietal maturities that are typical of rice-growing areas in South and Southeast Asia. We do not consider the harvesting method nor residual stubble, since most of the acquisitions and field observations stopped before harvest. The footprints cover irrigated and rainfed lowland systems that account for more than 90% of the rice-growing area [9]. Deepwater and upland rice account for the remaining small proportion of the area and are not represented in this study. Monitoring at 10 sites was done in the wet or monsoon season (Sites 2, 3 and 6-13), whereas three sites were monitored in the dry season (Sites 1, 4 and 5). Six sites established the rice crop by transplanting (Sites 2, 3, 6-8 and 13); four sites had a mixture of transplanting and direct seeding (Sites 4, 5, 9 and 10); and three established the crop by direct seeding (Sites 1, 11 and 12). Ten sites were in irrigated areas (Sites 1-3, 5-9, 12 and 13); one site was mainly irrigated with some rainfed area (Site 4); one site practiced semi-dry rice, which is rainfed at the start of the season and irrigated in later crop stages (Site 10); and one site was purely rainfed (Site 11). Varietal maturities ranged from short at one site (Site 1) to a mixture of short to medium at two sites (Sites 5 and 10), medium at seven sites (Sites 2-4, 6, 7 and 12), long at two sites (Sites 8 and 9) and very long at one site (Site 11). Table 2 summarizes the characteristics of the dominant rice systems \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c c} \hline \hline
**Site** & **Country,** & **Season** & **Period** & **Number of** & **Crop** & **Crop** & **Variety and Maturity** & **Water** & **Notes** \\
**ID** & **Study Site** & **Season** & **Covered** & **Fields, Visits** & **Method** & **(days)** & **Management** & **Notes** \\ \hline
**12** & Thailand, & & & & & RD31 (115), & & \\  & & & & & RD47 (112), & & \\  & Thailand, & & June to & 20 fields, & & RD41 (115), & & \\  & Suphan Buri & Wet & & 20 fields, & Direct seeding & PTT1 (120), & & \\  & & & October & 172 visits & & RD29 (95), & & \\  & & & & & SPR1 (115), & & \\  & & & & & PLK2 (92) & & \\ \hline
**13** & Philippines, & & July to & 20 fields, & & & \\  & Nueva Ecija & & November & 200 visits & Transplanting & NSIC Rc222 (114) & & \\ \hline
**Total number** & & & & & & & \\  & **of fields and** & & & & & & \\  & **visits** & & & & & & \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 2: _Cont._covered by each footprint, and further details for each site and monitored season are expanded upon below. Cambodia (Site 1, Takeo): In this area, farmers typically grow short-duration non-photoperiod-sensitive varieties (such as IR504) for the dry season, early wet season and recession rice. Improved varieties, such as Phka Romdudol and local varieties with medium and long growth durations, are grown in the main wet season. Monitoring was conducted in four locations (three from Angkor Borey and one in Prey Kabas District) during the recession rice of October 2012, to April 2013. Farmers started broadcasting their fields as soon as the water receded from October to November. The variety used by farmers in this area was mainly IR504. Groundwater was used as supplementary irrigation when there was a lack of access to water from river or other irrigation sources. Philippines (Sites 2, 3, 4 and 13, Leyte East, Leyte West, Agusan del Norte and Nueva Ecija): These sites represent three geographic areas of the country--Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, respectively--characterized by different rice cropping practices. The four municipalities monitored in Nueva Ecija were San Jose, Sto. Domingo, Talavera and Aliaga. They were classified as irrigated lowland, and they rely mainly on the release of irrigation water from the Upper Pampanga River Integrated Irrigation System (UPRIIS).