Classification of seasonal images for monitoring irrigated crops in a salinity-affected area of Australia

An attempt was made to observe the impact of salinity management on agricultural crops in a highly salinity-affected area of Australia. A classification strategy based on crop phenology and irrigation practices, was developed to identify and monitor the three major irrigated crops. For this, Normalized Difference Vegetation Indices (NDVIs) were derived from Landsat Thematic Mapper (TMJ data for two consecutive seasons (summer and autumn) each of 1989-1990 and 1995-1996. Using the 1995-1996 field survey the results of parametric and nonparametric classifiers were compared. Higher accuracies were achieved with the nonparametric classifier. Substantial changes were found in pasture culture from 1989-1990 to 1995-1996.