Winter wheat is the predominant crop that is grown during this monitoring period in this region.  Winter wheat sowing started in September and concluded in October. The CropWatch Agroclimatic Indicators (CWAIs) for this region were below the 15YA: Rainfall (RAIN) was below average by 8%, temperature (TEMP) was below average by 0.6°C, and radiation (RADPAR) dropped by 4%. Much colder-than-usual temperatures were observed in early January. Due to the decrease of precipitation, temperature and radiation, the potential biomass (BIOMSS) was 10% below average. According to the regional NDVI development graph, the crop conditions were slightly below the 5-year average between October and December, and they were average from December to January. As can be seen from the spatial patterns of NDVI departure clustering and the profiles, about 10% of the cropped area was below the 5-year average in early October, which occurred mainly in the northwest of Henan province, and the south of Shannxi and Ningxia. These negative departures were most likely due to cloud cover in the satellite images. The Maximum VCI map shows high values of VCIx (0.91) in most cropped areas of the region. Almost 83% of the farmland was cultivated according to CALF (+17%) as compared to the 5YA.  In general, the crop conditions are favorable for this region.

Figure 4.10 Crop condition China Loess region, October 2020 - January 2021

(a) Crop condition development graph based on NDVI

(b) Time series rainfall profile

(c) Time series temperature profile

(d) Maximum VCI

(e) Potential biomass departure from 15YA

(f) Spatial distribution of NDVI profiles