Paddy Rice Phenological Mapping throughout 30-Years Satellite Images in the Honghe Hani Rice Terraces

Over the past three decades, the UNESCO-listed Honghe Hani Rice Terraces have experienced significant land-use changes, with 10.65% of paddy rice areas converting to forests, shrubs or grasslands, and other croplands. A study using a random forest classifier and phenological data from Google Earth Engine revealed that integrating multiple phenological periods improved mapping accuracy, enabling precise discrimination between paddy rice and other land covers during critical growth stages. The research highlights the impact of lower agricultural profits and drought on these changes, providing evidence for the shrinking rice terrace area in Southwest China.

Yang, J., Xu, J., Zhou, Y., Zhai, D., Chen, H., Li, Q., & Zhao, G. (2023). Paddy Rice Phenological Mapping throughout 30-Years Satellite Images in the Honghe Hani Rice Terraces. Remote Sensing, 15(9), 2398. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15092398