AsiaRiceMap10m: high-resolution annual paddy rice maps for Southeast and Northeast Asia from 2017 to 2019

Abstract. An accurate paddy rice map is crucial for food security, particularly for Southeast and Northeast Asia. The MODIS satellite data is useful for mapping paddy rice at continental scales but has a problem of mixed-pixel due to coarse spatial resolution. To reduce the mixed pixels, we designed a rule-based method for mapping paddy rice by integrating time-series Sentinel-1 and MODIS data. We demonstrated the method in generating annual paddy rice maps for Southeast and Northeast Asia in 2017–2019 (AsiaRiceMap10m). The resultant paddy rice maps were compared with available agricultural statistics at subnational levels and existing rice maps for some countries. The results show that the linear coefficient of determination (R2) between our paddy rice maps and agricultural statistics ranges from 0.80 to 0.97. The paddy rice planting areas in 2017 were spatially consistent with the existing maps in Vietnam (R2 = 0.93) and Northeast China (R2 = 0.99). The spatial distribution of the 2017–2019 composite paddy rice map is consistent with the rice map from the International Rice Research Institute. The paddy rice planting area may be underestimated in the region where the flooding signal is not strong. The dataset is useful for water resource management, rice growth, and yield monitoring. The full product is publicly available at https://doi.org/10.17632/j34b3jsvr9.1 (Han et al., 2021a). Find small examples here ( https://doi.org/10.17632/cnc3tkbwcm.1 ) (Han et al., 2021b).