University of Tehran Press Iranian Journal of Soil and Water Research 2008-479X 56 5 2025 07 23 Comparison Sentinel-2 with Landsat 8/9 to Detect Water Stress in Sugarcane Fields Comparison Sentinel-2 with Landsat 8/9 to Detect Water Stress in Sugarcane Fields 1219 1238 103184 10.22059/ijswr.2025.389356.669872 FA Elahe Zoratipour Ph. D Student of Irrigation and Drainage Department, Faculty of Water and Environmental Engineering, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, 0009-0000-9313-9236 Amir Soltani Mohammadi Faculty of Water and Environmental Engineering, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Khuzestan , Iran. 0000-0002-9861-6545 Shadman Veysi Soil and Water Research Institute (SWRI), Alborz, Iran 0000-0003-1477-5221 Saeed Boroomand Nasab Faculty of Water and Environmental Engineering, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran 0000-0002-4066-6240 Abd Ali Naseri Faculty of Water and Environmental Engineering, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran 0000-0002-5833-5802 Journal Article 2025 01 25 Water stress is one of the most important factors affecting the evaluation of water content and the monitoring of plants. If water stress is properly recognised, yield can be improved and waste of water resources prevented in the short term. The aim of this study is to compare the capability of the infrared bands of the Sentinel 2 satellite and the thermal bands of the Landsat 8-9 satellite to determine water stress in the Amir Kabir Sugarcane Agro-Industry Unit in Khuzestan province. Actual calculated stress data based on the empirical Idso equation were used for the evaluation. The land surface temperature index (LST) based on Landsat 8-9 thermal bands and the moisture stress index (MSI) based on Sentinel 2 infrared bands were used to estimate water stress. The results show that the Landsat 8-9 satellite thermal bands with an average, R2 of 0.78-0.92, RMSE of 0.08-0.11, rMBE of 14.54-14.20, and r of 0.88-0.96, showed a slightly better estimate of the actual stress data than the infrared bands of Sentinel 2 with an average R2 of 0.74-0.89, RMSE of 0.14-0.15, rMBE of 28.5-38.6, and r of 0.86-0.94. However, the trend of stress changes for the two satellites is similar to the actual values. Based on the spatial distribution map, the estimated water stress was determined using thermal and infrared bands with the highest stress of 0.65 and 0.69, on July 24, respectively. respectively. Therefore, both satellites performed acceptably to estimate the water stress of sugarcane, and when Landsat 8-9 imagery is unavailable, the use of Sentinel-2 imagery is recommended for crop water stress estimation. Water stress is one of the most important factors affecting the evaluation of water content and the monitoring of plants. If water stress is properly recognised, yield can be improved and waste of water resources prevented in the short term. The aim of this study is to compare the capability of the infrared bands of the Sentinel 2 satellite and the thermal bands of the Landsat 8-9 satellite to determine water stress in the Amir Kabir Sugarcane Agro-Industry Unit in Khuzestan province. Actual calculated stress data based on the empirical Idso equation were used for the evaluation. The land surface temperature index (LST) based on Landsat 8-9 thermal bands and the moisture stress index (MSI) based on Sentinel 2 infrared bands were used to estimate water stress. The results show that the Landsat 8-9 satellite thermal bands with an average, R2 of 0.78-0.92, RMSE of 0.08-0.11, rMBE of 14.54-14.20, and r of 0.88-0.96, showed a slightly better estimate of the actual stress data than the infrared bands of Sentinel 2 with an average R2 of 0.74-0.89, RMSE of 0.14-0.15, rMBE of 28.5-38.6, and r of 0.86-0.94. However, the trend of stress changes for the two satellites is similar to the actual values. Based on the spatial distribution map, the estimated water stress was determined using thermal and infrared bands with the highest stress of 0.65 and 0.69, on July 24, respectively. respectively. Therefore, both satellites performed acceptably to estimate the water stress of sugarcane, and when Landsat 8-9 imagery is unavailable, the use of Sentinel-2 imagery is recommended for crop water stress estimation. https://ijswr.ut.ac.ir/article_103184_31d325b353f122d331e59b3d42357413.pdf