Improved Change Detection with Trajectory-Based Approach: Application to Quantify Cropland Expansion in South Dakota

Lan H. Nguyen, Deepak R. Joshi and Geoffrey M. Henebry
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Lan H. Nguyen: Geospatial Sciences Center of Excellence, South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD 57007, USA
Deepak R. Joshi: Department of Agronomy, Horticulture & Plant Science, South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD 57007, USA
Geoffrey M. Henebry: Department of Geography, Environment, and Spatial Sciences, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA

Land, 2019, vol. 8, issue 4, 1-11

Abstract: The growing demand for biofuel production increased agricultural activities in South Dakota, leading to the conversion of grassland to cropland. Although a few land change studies have been conducted in this area, they lacked spatial details and were based on the traditional bi-temporal change detection that may return incorrect rates of conversion. This study aimed to provide a more complete view of land conversion in South Dakota using a trajectory-based analysis that considers the entire satellite-based land cover/land use time series to improve change detection. We estimated cropland expansion of 5447 km 2 (equivalent to 14% of the existing cropland area) between 2007 and 2015, which matches much more closely the reports from the National Agriculture Statistics Service—NASS (5921 km 2 )—and the National Resources Inventory—NRI (5034 km 2 )—than an estimation from the bi-temporal approach (8018 km 2 ). Cropland gains were mostly concentrated in 10 counties in northern and central South Dakota. Urbanizing Lincoln County, part of the Sioux Falls metropolitan area, is the only county with a net loss in cropland area over the study period. An evaluation of land suitability for crops using the Soil Survey Geographic Database (SSURGO) indicated a scarcity in high-quality arable land available for cropland expansion.

Keywords: land cover/land use; agriculture; Cropland Data Layer; land surface phenology; South Dakota; trajectory-based change detection; multi-date (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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