crops in Australiagenerally showed a poor condition during the period between January and April. Overthe reporting period, cropped land covers the southern part of South Australia,Victoria, and New South Wales, as well as some areas in southwest WestAustralia. Compared with the recent five- and thirteen-year averages,total precipitation dropped by 24% and 10%, respectively, especially in easternNew South Wales, which is consistent with the results released from NOAA’sNational Climatic Data Center. Temperature and PAR display a slight increaseover the recent five-year period (0.5% and 2% respectively). In general, thebiomass accumulation potential in Australia decreased by 12% compared to thelast five-year average.

The spatial NDVI patterns and the corresponding timeprofiles show the condition of crops was below the five-year average beforelate February in the middle part of the southeastern New South Wales region.For the other parts of southeastern New South Wales and northern Victoria, thecrops dropped below the five-year average from late March. For most regions ofsouth-western Victoria, crops remained under the five-year average until thebeginning of April. The crop condition map also confirms poor crop condition inAustralia before April, which is close to the situation in 2012-2013. AfterApril, crop condition was improved, indicating a good situation for theemergence of Australia’s winter crops.

          Figure3.6. Australia crop condition, Jan-Apr 2014

         (a)  Crop condition development graph based on NDVI                (b) maximum VC                                 

(b) Spatial NDVI patternscompared to 5YA                                   (d) NDVI profile