## 2 Study Area
### Ground Data Measurement  
Ground truth measurements of rice parameters (rice height and rice biomass) were collected in eleven reference plots (Figure 2) which were about 2 to 6 hectares. A plot survey was carried out from May 2017 to September 2017 on the 11 rice reference plots selected to cover the variability encountered in both soils and agricultural practices. The reference plots were chosen in such a way that they could be represented the paddy rice fields in Camargue and they should not be adjacent parcels. The ground surveys were conducted based on the Sentinel-1 data acquisitions to measure rice height and biomass through the full growth rice cycle. In that respect, the following measurements were made every 12 days: 2 locations per plot for biomass assessment (1 m\({}^{2}\) for each location), 30 points per plot for crop height measurements. Figure 2 shows the position of ground surveys. The rice height has been taken on all the 11 plots. In contrast, rice biomass had been only taken on 1G1, 1G3, 2M1, 2M2, 3M1. The number of plots used to cut the biomass is reduced to five; we could not cut the biomass on all the plots otherwise it would be a waste and it would have had an impact on the production. The biomass was dried to have the dry biomass that is used in our analyses.  
In addition, information such as the label, surface (in hectare), the sowing date, rice variety and harvest date are known for each plot and represented in Table 2.  
Figure 2: Camargue study area. (**a**) The agricultural land cover map in 2017 [30]. The green color indicates the rice extent of the Camargue region. (**b**) The zoom version of the white polygons represents the location of reference plots where measurements were made at every 12 days from May to September 2017.  
Regarding the parameters displayed in Table 2, the sowing date is not the same for all plots and the harvest date also is not at the same time. The variability observed is due to the local conditions at the time of sowing and also is due to the rice variety. The harvest period takes place between 29 September (DoY 272) and 14 October (DoY 287). After harvesting, the rice in Camargue is dried and preserved in the geographical area at a humidity level allowing its (good) conservation in silos whose temperature conditions are controlled. The ground measurements of rice height and rice biomass were collected at the same time with SAR Sentinel-1 images acquisition over reference plots. The Figure 3 shows one of eleven plots with its pictures that were taken during the ground survey.  
In summary, for rice height in-situ data, there are 132 measurements, whereas, for rice biomass, we only have 50 measurements.  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c} \hline \hline
**Plot Identity** & **Area (ha)** & **Sowing Date** & **Rice Variety** & **Harvest Date (DoY)** \\ \hline
1G1 & 2.4 & 10 May 2017 & [PERSON] & 09 October 2017 (282) \\
1G3 & 2.14 & 10 May 2017 & [PERSON] & 09 October 2017 (282) \\
1G5 & 2.03 & 10 May 2017 & [PERSON] & 09 October 2017 (282) \\
2M1 & 3.5 & 12 May 2017 & Eurosis & 29 September 2017 (272) \\
2M2 & 3 & 12 May 2017 & Eurosis & 29 September 2017 (272) \\
3M1 & 6 & 15 May 2017 & [PERSON] & 11 October 2017 (284) \\
3M3 & 5 & 15 May 2017 & Opale & 11 October 2017 (284) \\
3M4 & 4 & 15 May 2017 & [PERSON] & 14 October 2017 (287) \\
3M6 & 2.5 & 15 May 2017 & [PERSON] & 14 October 2017 (287) \\
4M2 & 3.5 & 15 May 2017 & Brio & 10 October 2017 (283) \\
4M4 & 3.5 & 15 May 2017 & Brio & 09 October 2017 (282) \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table}
Table 2: Description of reference plots in Camargue.  
Figure 3: The reference plot 1G3 is marked in the figure (coordinates of central point 43\({}^{\circ}\)34\({}^{\prime}\)30\({}^{\prime\prime}\)N, 4\({}^{\circ}\)30\({}^{\prime}\)32\({}^{\prime\prime}\)E) together with its photos at different dates.