The growing global population together with climate change puts pressure on food systems and affects food security. Earth Observation can provide essential information that can help different stakeholders (e.g., farmers, decision makers) to maximize productivity and food security.

In this module students will acquire theoretical and practical knowledge on state of the art Earth Observation data and tools for agricultural monitoring. The seminar will cover several topics varying from crop mapping to crop condition and management assessment in areas with different agro climatic conditions (e.g., Germany, Sub-Saharan Africa, USA).  For this purpose, data from different sources will be tested, such as MODIS, Landsat, Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2. Appropriate theoretical knowledge on suitable methods and relevant datasets will be developed in the seminar and then implemented during practical sessions. During the practical sessions, students will gain firsthand experience in the R programming language and Google Earth Engine (using Javascript) for solving different real life issues with the use of multisource data.

The topics will include (but not limited to):

  • Global agricultural monitoring:  data, tools, information needs and current status
  • Monitoring of crop growth with Sentinel -1 and Sentinel-2
  • Crop Evapotranspiration, Water Use, and Irrigation assessment
  • Drought impact assessment
  • Remote Sensing and crop yield assessment

This module will successfully finish with a term paper and a presentation prepared in a group with a focus on one particular method or application related to the case studies.

Knowledge of the basic concepts of remote sensing, as well as basic programming experience are prerequisites for participating in this module.

Semester: WiSe 2023/24