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Iowa Sentinel-2 Grid for Crop Imagery Downloads: LAI, RLAI, & Yield

Sentinel-2 imagery cells differ in design from Landsat cells (opens in new tab), which has resulted in GIS Ag Maps developing a simple grid for each state to download imagery (actual Sentinel-2 Path/Row values are not used, as they are with Landsat 8), the Sentinel-2 file name has a state abbreviation (unlike Landsat 8) as well as the tile identifier (letter then number). Sentinel-2 has a minor amount of overlap (much less than Landsat 8), and overlap amount can vary (read previous for more information).

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Important Information to Understand and Use Imagery in Downloads

Information in the link above describes, in detail, the imagery in the downloads and how to easily get started with it in free QGIS software (click link to download it from this website), including how to add free constant high-resolution background imagery. 

After downloading then decompressing the folder (free decompression software can be downloaded from this website here), simply open free QGIS (click link to download it from this website), then click Project (upper left on menu) > Open > then navigate to the decompressed folder and click green QGIS Project icon. LAI crop rasters are multiplied by 100 then converted to an integer raster to reduce file size (for example, LAI 2.50 is 250, 2.51 is 251, etc.). Corn yield rasters are rounded to near whole number (bu/ac). Soybean yield rasters are multiplied by 10 then converted to an integer raster to reduce file size (for example, yield LAI 55.0 is 550, 55.1 is 551, etc.).

Tips for using QGIS with the Imagery: 1) Rasters have been symbolized to certain Min Max values in grayscale; to change the values right-click on the layer then click Properties, then Symbology then change the Min Max values and click OK. 2) To expand the width of the Panel window in order to see the full name of the files, click and drag the right boundary of the window. 3) To reorder layers, left-click on a layer and drag it (should see a black bar move with layer that show where the layer would be moved to when you unclick it). 4) You may want to download and use the County_and_State_Boundaries folder to help orient you when viewing the imagery (click here for directions how to open and symbolize the layers in QGIS).

Downloads include Green Crop Canopy Relative Leaf Area Index (RLAI; explained in detail in link above) rasters for earlier and later crop stages (explained more below) that can be used for different crops with green canopies, a true color image (TCI), and an image that represents atmospheric clearness (SCL file for Sentinel-2 and QA file for Landsat 8). Additionally, images specifically converted to corn and soybean leaf area index (LAI) and yield (bushels per acre) are included for Corn Belt areas, or any area when requested. During transition times during the season, it may be necessary to include corn and/or soybean imagery for both earlier and later times; in this case, corn and soybean imagery (along with the TCI and atmospheric clearness images) with be in a separate folder because file size is limited to under 300 GB. Otherwise, all files will be in one folder.

Corn and soybean imagery from the beginning to middle of August are converted to a forecasted yield amount; for corn the value applies to field that are at the R3-R4 stages, for soybean value applies to fields at the R4-R5 stages. Corn yield is rounded to the nearest whole bu/ac; soybean yield is multiplied by 10 and rounded to the nearest whole bu/ac [for example, 55.2 would be 552]; eliminating decimal (floating point) raster significantly reduces file/download size. GIS Ag Maps welcome feedback about the values and can adjust values based on feedback.

Images in folders include: True Color, Atmospheric Clearness, two Green Crop Canopy RLAI, and, if applicable, Corn and/or Soybean LAI or yield [bu/ac].)

NAMING CONVENTION: State Abbreviation_S2 (Sentinel-2)_Tile Identifier_Image Date (YYYYMMDD)_Yield (Corn and soybean imagery is in yield [bu/ac] format)_All ("All" signifies that all appropriate images are included in the single folder; there are two folders if size exceeds 400 MB which occurs when two corn and two soybean images are included along with the two green crop canopy images [that are always included]; this happens when the corn and soybean image date happens to occur during the transition time frame from the earlier to later stages imagery [either the earlier or later image may be more appropriate, so they both need to be included]). Corn_Soybeans (Includes corn, soybeans, true color, and atmospheric clearness imagery [folder was divided for reasons previously described.) Other_Green_Crop_Canopy (Signifies that folder includes Green Crop Canopy images for earlier and later season [for green crop canopies other than corn and soybeans, as well as true color and atmospheric clearness imagery; folder was divided for reasons previously described].)

Downloads follow: