RiceExtent v1.0: A Global Rice-Specific Land Cover Product from Multi-Source Data Integration

The study presents RiceExtent v1.0, a harmonized, high resolution (10 m and 250 m), global rice-specific land cover dataset developed by integrating verified local, national, and regional rice maps with ESA WorldCover using a reliability-weighted spatial merging approach that prioritizes source accuracy and spatial detail. Using an extent-based merging strategy rather than annual averages, RiceExtent captures the maximum observed rice cultivation extent rice cultivation, effectively representing double and triple cropping, fragmented smallholder fields, and inter-annual variability often underrepresented in other products. The final product was validated against Spatial Production Allocation Model, RiceAtlas, and Global Rice, along with USDA rice production statistics and >29,000 ground-truth samples. The developed dataset captures an estimated global rice area of ~1.64 million km², closely aligning with official statistics and improving representation in Southeast Asia, South Asia, and Africa and the Americas. RiceExtent v1.0, provided through an open repository [repository name/link] with Python script offers a robust resource for agricultural monitoring, crop and hydrological modeling, and climate impact assessments, while enabling collaborative refinement of global rice mapping.