The main crop in Huanghuaihai during the current monitoring period is maize, of which the condition was below the recent five-year average and worse than the previous year. Unfavorable weather has impacted the sowing and development periods. Poor precipitation (5% below average) somewhat hindered the germination of maize, which is shown by the well below average values in July and August in the NDVI development graph. In addition, RADPAR was 4% lower than average. According to the spatial NDVI patterns, crop condition was below average from the middle of July in almost the whole region. In northern Hebei, Henan, southern Anhui and eastern Shandong, crop condition was consistently below average, being worst during mid-August. Biomass showed a slight increase (1%) but these changes were not homogeneous. The maximum VCI presents low values in some clustered region, which is consisted with the biomass and spatial distribution of NDVI.

(a) Crop condition development graph based on NDVI

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

(d) Maximum VCI                                                                  (e) Biomass