The main crop in Huanghuaihai region are summer maize and winter wheat.This monitoring period covers the whole cycle of summer maize from July to late September. The winter wheat sowing period started in early October. Crop conditions in Huanghuaihai region during the monitoring period were more favorable in the northern half and less favorable in the southern half. 

    The NDVI values were above the 5YA in July but fell slightly below the 5YA in early and mid-August. In September the crop condition kept pace with 5YA and then dropped to below average levels in October. Agro-climatic indicators show that precipitation increased by 19% while temperature and radiation fell by 0.4℃ and 5% compared to the 15YA, which led to 6% drop in BIOMSS compared to 15YA. The maximum VCI value for Huanghuaihai was 0.94. As shown by NDVI clusters and profiles, 12.1% of cropland over northern Anhui and some scattered areas across the whole region, displays below-average condition during most of this monitoring period. 23.8% of cropland over the eastern and central areas of Shandong show above-average conditions. 17.5% of cropland in southern Hebei and northern Henan departed a lot from average in late September and early October. Since the summer crops are at maturity stage, the lower NDVI has limited impacts on crop yield and total output. This pattern is confirmed by the distribution maps of VCIx map and the biomass departure map.

(a)Crop condition development graph based on NDVI

(b)Spatial NDVI patterns compared to 5YA           (C) NDVI profiles  

(d) Maximum VCI

(e)Potential biomass departure from 5YA