## 4 Results and Discussion
### Rice Area Maps  
Figure 5 shows rice area maps derived from multi-temporal X-band SAR imagery for all 13 sites. We combine late rice and early rice into one class and distinguish them from rice in the maps below for discussion purposes. Map accuracy considers any of the three rice subclasses as rice. Takeo (Figure 5a) is largely covered by rice and clearly demarcated into two rice cropping systems, the recession rice crop in green and the early wet-season crop, which is represented here as early rice in the western portion of the footprint. The long acquisition period missed the start of the early wet-season crop, but fully captured the recession rice crop. The small irrigated areas of Leyte East (Figure 5b) show a lot of heterogeneity in planting with a mixture of early rice, rice and late rice classes. The exemplar rice signatures in Figure 4a were taken from this site, with start of season dates ranging from early May to mid-August. This high variability could be due to insufficient water availability or insufficient labor for transplanting. Although the reason for the heterogeneity is not clear, a longer-duration acquisition plan would help to capture the full rice-growing season. **Figure 5. (a) Rice area map for Site 1, Takeo, Cambodia; (**b**) rice area map for Site 2, Leyte East, Philippines; (**c**) rice area map for Site 3, Leyte West, Philippines; (**d**) Rice area map for Site 4, Agusan del Norte, Philippines; (**e**) rice area map for Site 5, Soc Trang, Vietnam; (**f**) rice area map for Site 6, Nam Dinh, Vietnam; (**g**) rice area map for Site 7, Subang, Indonesia; (**h**) rice area map for Site 8, Cuddalore, India; (**i**) rice area map for Site 9, Thanjavur, India; (**j**) rice area map for Site 10, Sivaganga, India; (**k**) rice area map for Site 11, Muang Yang, Thailand; (**l**) rice area map for Site 12, Suphan Buri, Thailand; (**m**) rice area map for Site 13, Nueva Ecija, Philippines. Figure 5: Cont. Figure 5: _Cont._  
Figure 5: Cont. In contrast to Figure 5b, Leyte West has a much greater homogeneity of rice establishment dates that corresponded well with the acquisition plan. The main irrigated areas in the northern part of the Agusan del Norte footprint (Figure 5d) are well captured with some apparent difference in planting date on the periphery of the irrigation systems, which could be evidence of insufficient irrigation water in the furthest extents of the system for timely planting. The smaller rainfed areas are in the south. Soc Trang in the Mekong River Delta (Figure 5e) shows another clear transition from early rice in the northwest to rice in the south. Irrigation canals are clearly visible throughout the rice area. Nam Dinh (Figure 5f) in the Red River Delta is dominated by rice and, although some canals are visible throughout the rice landscape, they are not as pronounced as in the Mekong; however, settlement and village patterns within the rice area are quite clear. The planting date was extremely regular and corresponded well with the acquisition plan. Figure 5: _Cont._  
Subang (Figure 5g) is characterized by the release of irrigation water starting in the south and proceeding north to the coast as the season progresses. Since the acquisition period was linked to the first release of irrigation water, it is the coastal areas, planted later, that are classed as late rice, and there are some small areas of early rice in the upper reaches of the system. Cuddalore (Figure 5h) is another area where the variability in rice crop establishment date is due to the uncertainty in the date of water availability. The clearly demarcated patches in the rice crop in the northern part are water tanks that were successfully excluded from the classification. Thanjavur (Figure 5i) is a much more intensively cropped area than the other two sites in India, and again, the water tanks that were successfully excluded from the classification are clearly visible as patches in the rice area.