Application of Crop Model Data Assimilation With a Particle Filter for Estimating Regional Winter Wheat Yields

To improve the performance of crop models for regional crop yield estimates, a particle filter (PF) was introduced to develop a data assimilation strategy using the Crop Environment Resource Synthesis (CERES)—Wheat model. Two experiments involving winter wheat yield estimations were conducted at a field plot and on a regional scale to test the feasibility of the PF-based data assimilation strategy and to analyze the effects of the PF parameters and spatiotemporal scales of assimilating observations on the performance of the crop model data assimilation. The significant improvements in the yield estimation suggest that PF-based crop model data assimilation is feasible. Winter wheat yields from the field plots were forecasted with a determination coefficient ( ${\bf R}^{\bf 2}$ ) of 0.87, a root-mean-square error (RMSE) of 251 kg/ha, and a relative error (RE) of 2.95%. An acceptable yield at the county scale was estimated with a ${\bf R}^{\bf 2}$ of 0.998, a RMSE of 9734 t, and a RE of 4.29%. The optimal yield estimates may be highly dependent on the reasonable spatiotemporal resolution of assimilating observations. A configuration using a particle size of 50, LAI maps with a moderate spatial resolution (e.g., 1 km), and an assimilation interval of 20 d results in a reasonable tradeoff between accuracy and effectiveness in regional applications.