Spectral Index for Mapping Topsoil Organic Matter Content Based on ZY1-02D Satellite Hyperspectral Data in Jiangsu Province, China

Estimation of soil organic matter content (SOMC) is essential for soil quality evaluation. Compared with traditional multispectral remote sensing for SOMC mapping, the distribution of SOMC in a certain area can be obtained quickly by using hyperspectral remote sensing data. The Advanced Hyper-Spectral Imager (AHSI) onboard the ZY1-02D satellite can simultaneously obtain spectral information in 166 bands from visible (400 nm) to shortwave infrared (2500 nm), providing an important data source for SOMC mapping. In this study, SOMC-related spectral indices (SIs) suitable for this satellite were analyzed and evaluated in Shuyang County, Jiangsu Province. A series of SIs were constructed for the bare soil and vegetation-covered (mainly rice crops and tree seedlings) areas by combining spectral transformations (such as reciprocal and square root) and dual-band index formulas (such as ratio and difference), respectively. The optimal SIs were determined based on Pearson’s correlation coefficient (ρ) and satellite data quality, and applied to SOMC level mapping and estimation. The results show that: (1) The SI with the highest ρ in the bare soil area is the ratio index of original reflectance at 654 and 679 nm (OR-RI₍₆₅₄,₆₇₉₎), whereas the SI in the vegetation area is the square root of the difference between the reciprocal reflectance at 551 and 1998 nm (V-RR-DSI₍₅₅₁,₁₉₉₈₎); (2) the spatial distribution trend of regional SOMC results obtained by linear regression models of OR-RI₍₆₅₄,₆₇₉₎ and V-RR-DSI₍₅₅₁,₁₉₉₈₎ is consistent with the samples; (3) based on the optimal SIs, support vector machine and tree ensembles were used to predict the SOMC of bare soil and vegetation-covered areas of Shuyang County, respectively. The determination coefficient of the soil–vegetation combined prediction results is 0.775, the root mean square error is 3.72 g/kg, and the residual prediction deviation is 2.12. The results show that the proposed SIs for ZY1-02D satellite hyperspectral data are of great potential for SOMC mapping.