This dataset represents a summary of potential cropland inundation for the state of California applying high-frequency surface water map composites derived from two satellite remote sensing platforms (Landsat and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer [MODIS]) with high-quality cropland maps generated by the California Department of Water Resources (DWR). Using Google Earth Engine, we examined inundation dynamics in California croplands from 2003 –2020 by intersecting monthly surface water maps (n=216 months) with mapped locations of precipitation amounts, rice, field, truck (which comprises truck, nursery, and berry crops), deciduous (deciduous fruits and nuts), citrus (citrus and subtropical), vineyards, and young perennial crops. Surface water maps were produced using the Dynamic Surface Water Extent (DSWE) model, in which satellite image pixels are classified into different levels of detection confidence. Our analysis focused on calculating the monthly occurrence of “high confidence” water from each satellite collection across eight cropland types and 58 counties.
The resulting tabular data have been joined to a county GIS shapefile covering the state of California. The file includes attributes summarizing each crop contained within the county boundaries along with a summary of how much cropland intersects past locations of cropland inundation, the relative percentage of cropland inundated, and the frequency of crop inundation. These summaries were generated using both the Landsat and MODIS water inundation maps, and are presented separately in the data release.