The research team is oriented toward national and industry-critical needs, dedicated to empowering agricultural and water resource remote sensing research through advanced technologies and methodologies. The team maintains a harmonious atmosphere and, though small, is highly specialized. Through tackling challenging problems, it has evolved into a dynamic and capable group. The team leader has secured three projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), one National Key R&D Program project, and one sub-project under the National Key R&D Program. The team's primary research directions and focus areas include:

1. Advanced Remote Sensing Methods for Agricultural Monitoring: Farmland parcel identification, farmland infrastructure identification and monitoring, crop type and yield monitoring at the parcel level, and remote sensing-based irrigation monitoring.
2. Advanced Remote Sensing Methods for Water Resource Monitoring: Decoupling natural and anthropogenic influences on evapotranspiration through modeling, remote sensing-based assessment of basin-level consumptive water use, and modeling approaches for the tradeoff of agriculture and ecosystems.

In recent years, the team has published a series of articles in top-tier international and domestic journals, including NSR, TGRS, Science Bulletin, JAG, ESSD, Scientific Data, GIScience & Remote Sensing, Journal of Remote Sensing.

2009/09-2012/06, Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Natural Resources, Ph D
2007/09-2009/06, State Key Laboratory of Information Engineering for Surveying, Wuhan University, Mapping and Remote Sensing, Cartography and Geographic Information System, MS.
2002/09-2006/06, School of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Central China Normal University, Geography & Computer Sciences, BS

   

2019/04-, Deputy Director of the Ecosystem Remote Sensing Department, State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences

2016/01-, Associate Professor, Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth, Chinese Academy of Sciences

2012/07-2016/01, Assistant Professor, Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth, Chinese Academy of Sciences

2017/06-, the Earth Observation Organization Global Agricultural Monitoring Flagship Program (GEOGLAM), member of the Executive Committee

   

Publications (*Corresponding author)

1. Zeng Hongwei, Xie Yan, Abdelrazek Elnashar, Wang Shuai, Zhao Hang, Li Junbin, Wu Bingfang. Increasing Cropland Area and its Associated Human-induced Water Consumption Puts Ebinur Lake at Risk of Drying up. 2025, Journal of Remote Sensing. doi:10.34133/remotesensing.0496. (IF=8.8)
2. Zeng Hongwei, Abdelrazek Elnashar, Wu Bingfang*, Zhang Miao, Zhu Weiwei, Tian Fuyou, Ma Zonghan. A framework for separating natural and anthropogenic contributions to evapotranspiration of human-managed land covers in watersheds based on machine learning. Science of The Total Environment 2022, 823, 153726. (SCI, IF = 10.754)
3. Zeng Hongwei, Bingfang Wu*, Weiwei Zhu, Ning Zhang. A trade-off method between environment restoration and human water consumption: A case study in Ebinur Lake. Journal of Cleaner Production 2019, 217, 732-741(SCI, IF=11.072)
4. Zeng Hongwei*, Wu Bingfang, Zhang Miao, et al. Dryland Ecosystem Dynamic Change and Its Drivers in Mediterranean Region. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability. 2021, 48, 59-67. (SCI, IF=7.961)
5. Zeng Hongwei, Wu Bingfang*, WANG Shuai, et al. A Synthesizing Land-cover Classification Method Based on Google Earth Engine: A Case Study in Nzhelele and Levhuvu Catchments, South Africa. Chinese Geographical Sciences. 2020,30(3):397-409.(SCI, IF=3.101)
6. Zeng Hongwei, Li Lijuan*, Hu Jinming, et al. Accuracy validation of TRMM Multisatellite Precipitation Analysis daily precipitation products in the Lancang River Basin of China. Theoretical and applied climatology, 2013 112(3-4), 389-401. (SCI, IF=3.410)
7. Zeng Hongwei, Li Lijuan*, Li Jiuyi. The evaluation of TRMM Multisatellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA) in drought monitoring in the Lancang River Basin. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 2012, 22(2): 273-282. (SCI,  IF=4.012)
8. Li Junbin, Zeng Hongwei*, Zhang Miao, Wu Bingfang, Qin Yuanwei, Xie Yan, Sven Gilliams, Luo Yuting. A Two-Step Method for Monitoring Annual Paddy Rice Planted Area in Tropical Region by Integrating Rice Identification and Cropping Intensity Estimation. 2025, Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing. 63, 1-15. doi:10.1109/TGRS.2025.3549296 (SCI, IF = 7.52)
9. Abdelrazek Elnashar, Zeng Hongwei*, Wu Bingfang, et al. Soil erosion assessment in the Blue Nile Basin driven by a novel RUSLE-GEE framework. Science of the Total Environment, 2021, 793, 148466. (SCI, IF = 10.754)
10. Abdelrazek Elnashar, Zeng Hongwei*, Wu Bingfang*, et al. Assessment of environmentally sensitive areas to desertification in the Blue Nile Basin driven by the MEDALUS-GEE framework, Science of the Total Environment 2022, 815.(SCI, IF = 10.754)
11. LI Yuanchao, Zeng Hongwei*, Miao Zhang, Bingfang Wu*, Yan Zhao, Xia Yao, Tao Cheng, Xingli Qin, Fangming Wu. A county-level soybean yield prediction framework coupled with XGBoost and multidimensional feature engineering. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 2023, 118, 103269. (SCI, IF = 7.672)
12. LI Yuanchao, Zeng Hongwei*, Miao Zhang, Bingfang Wu*, Xingli Qin. Global de-trending significantly improves the accuracy of XGBoost-based county-level maize and soybean yield prediction in the Midwestern United States. GIScience & Remote Sensing, 2024,61(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/15481603.2024.2349341. (SCI, IF = 6.7)
13. Awetahegn Niguse Beyene, Zeng Hongwei*, Wu Bingfang, et al. Coupling remote sensing and crop growth model to estimate national wheat yield in Ethiopia. Big Earth Data 2022, 6:1, 18-35. [EI]
14. Wu Bingfang*, Zeng Hongwei, Zhu Weiwei, et al. Enhancing China’s Three Red Lines strategywith water consumption limitations, Science Bulletin, 66(20), 2057-2060. (SCI, IF=20.577)
15. Wu Bingfang*, Zeng Hongwei, Lv Nan, et al. The essential dryland ecosystem variables.Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability. 2021, 48, 68-76(SCI, IF=7.961)
16. Wu Bingfang*, Zeng Hongwei, Yan Nana, et al. Approach for Estimating Available Consumable Water for Human Activities in a River Basin. Water Resources Management 2018, 32:2353-2368.（SCI，IF=4.426）
17. Wu Bingfang*, Zeng Hongwei, Yan Nana, et al. Promoting Resilient Agriculture Practices for B&R Countries with Remote Sensing, Bulletin of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 2018, 32(3)：184-189
18. Wu Bingfang, Zhang Miao, Zeng Hongwei, Tian Fuyou, Andries B Potgieter, Xingli Qin, Nana Yan, Sheng Chang, Yan Zhao, Qinghan Dong, Vijendra Boken, Dmitry Plotnikov, Huadong Guo, Fangming Wu, Hang Zhao, Bart Deronde, Laurent Tits, Evgeny Loupian, Challenges and opportunities in remote sensing-based crop monitoring: A review, National Science Review, 2022. (SCI, IF = 23.178)
19. Zhang Miao, Wu Bingfang*, Zeng Hongwei, et al: GCI30: a global dataset of 30 m cropping intensity using multisource remote sensing imagery, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 2021, 13, 4799–4817.  (SCI, IF = 11.333)
20. Tian Fuyou, Wu Bingfang, Zeng Hongwei, Zhang Miao, Yueran Hu, Yan Xie, Congcong Wen, Zhengdong Wang, Xingli Qin, Wei Han & Honghai Yang. A shape-attention Pivot-Net for identifying central pivot irrigation systems from satellite images using a cloud computing platform: an application in the contiguous US, GIScience & Remote Sensing, 2023, 60:1. (SCI, IF = 6.397)
21. Tian Fuyou, Wu Bingfang*, Zeng Hongwei, et al. Identifying the Links Among Poverty, Hydroenergy and Water Use Using Data Mining Methods, Water Resources Management,2020,34(5), 1725-1741.（SCI, IF=4.426）
22. Tian Fuyou, Wu Bingfang, Zeng Hongwei, et al. (2022). Detecting the linkage between arable land use and poverty using machine learning methods at global perspective. Geography and Sustainability, 3, 7-20
23. Tian Fuyou, Wu Bingfang, Zeng Hongwei, Zhang Miao, Zhu Weiwei, Yan Nana, Lu Yuming,and Li Yifan. GMIE a global maximum irrigation extent and central pivot irrigation system dataset derived via irrigation performance during drought stress and deep learning methods, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 2025, 17, 855–880, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-855-2025
24. Qin Xingli, Wu Bingfang, Zeng Hongwei, Zhang Miao, Tian Fuyou. Global Gridded Crop Production Dataset at 10 Km Resolution from 2010 to 2020. Scientific Data 11, no. 1 (2024/12/18 2024): 1377. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-04248-2.
25. Fu Zhijun, Wu Bingfang, Zeng Hongwei, Li Mengxiao. 2024. Mapping Desert Shrubs in Inner Mongolia Using Universal Medium Resolution Satellite Imagery: Development of New Spectral Indices. GIScience & Remote Sensing 62 (1). doi:10.1080/15481603.2024.2428366.

My team has a strong interest in the application of advanced technologies in agriculture and water resources.

1. Advanced Remote Sensing Methods for Agricultural Monitoring: Farmland parcel identification, farmland infrastructure identification and monitoring, crop type and yield monitoring at the parcel level, and remote sensing-based irrigation monitoring.
2. Advanced Remote Sensing Methods for Water Resource Monitoring: Decoupling natural and anthropogenic influences on evapotranspiration through modeling, remote sensing-based assessment of basin-level consumptive water use, and modeling approaches for the tradeoff of agriculture and ecosystems

Current Graduate Students

1. Xie Yan, M.S. in GIS, 2022, Undergraduate School: Jilin University
2. Junbin Li, M.S. in GIS, 2023, Undergraduate School: China University of Geosciences (Wuhan)
3. Yuting Luo, M.S. in Resources and Environment, 2024, Undergraduate School: China University of Mining and Technology (Xuzhou)

Graduated Graduate Students

1. Hu Yueran, M.S. in GIS, 2021, graduated in 2024, graduated to purse Ph.D in Ecological Environment Centre of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
2. Li Yuanchao, M.S. in GIS in 2020, graduated in 2023, graduated to: China 4D Surveying and Mapping Technology Co.
3. Abdelrazek Elnashar, PhD in GIS, 2018. Second supervisor (first supervisor: researcher Wu Bingfang), graduated in June 2022, graduated to: Cairo University, Egypt.
4. Battsetseg Tuvdendorj, PhD in GIS, 2016. Second supervisor (first supervisor: researcher Wu Bingfang), graduated in June 2022, graduated to: National Remote Sensing Centre of Mongolia.
5. Tian Fuyou, PhD in GIS, 2016. Second Supervisor (First Supervisor: Researcher Wu Bingfang), Graduated in June 2021, graduated to: jointed the AIRCAS as an assisstant Professor.
6. ​Yu Mingzhao, PhD in GIS, 2013. Second supervisor (First supervisor: researcher Wu Bingfang), graduated in June 2017, graduated to: Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ecological Environment Research Centre.

1. Second Prize of Natural Science Award of Beijing Science and Technology Prize, Evapotranspiration Remote Sensing Mechanism and Water Consumption Control Method, 2024, Bingfang Wu, Shaomin Liu, Baozhong Zhang, Jiangyuan Zeng, Nana Yan, Ziwei Xu, Hongwei Zeng, Tongren Xu, Dixi Xu, Weiwei Zhu.
2. First Prize of China Surveying and Mapping Science and Technology Award, Key Technology and Application of Global Remote Sensing Monitoring of Agricultural Situation, 2023, Bingfang Wu, Miao Zhang, Hongwei Zeng, Jianqiang Ren, Tao Cheng, et al. (No. 2023-01-01-11)
3. Second Prize of Science and Technology Progress Award of Dayu Water Conservancy Science and Technology, Key Technology and Application of Evapotranspiration Remote Sensing, 2021, Bingfang Wu, Nana Yan, Hongwei Zeng, Weiwei Zhu, Yonghui Yang, et al. (No. DYJ2021J0203-G03)