Estimation and Mapping of Dates Palm Using Landsat-8 Images: A Case Study in Baghdad City

Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) is one of the most important and the oldest crops in Iraq. It is suffered from degradation due to various economical and numerous military conflicts. In this paper, a different method based on the Landsat-8 images has presented which is used to map the region of interest and to estimate dates palm trees. This method based on a Least Square Model (LSM) for statistical relations between different spectral indices (NDVI, EVI, NDMI) and tasselled cap parameters with in situ data. As a result, the best developed model was produced using fourth component of tasselled cap transformation with a correlation of R2 = 0.95 with in situ data. Thus, the results show that the Landsat-8 images are useful to estimate and monitor date palm area with high accuracy. This result is encouraging to estimate other parameters that concerned to the date palm.