SIM: smart irrigation from soil moisture forecast using satellite and hydro –meteorological modelling

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Mancini ◽  
Chiara Corbari ◽  
Alessandro Ceppi ◽  
Gabriele Lombardi ◽  
Josè Sobrino ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Water Availability ◽  
Irrigation Water ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Hydrological Modelling ◽  
Balance Model ◽  
Fresh Vegetables

<p>The conflicting use of water is becoming more and more evident, also in regions that are traditionally rich in water. With the world’s population projected to increase to 8.5 billion by 2030, the simultaneous growth in income will imply a substantial increase in demand for both water and food (expected to increase by 70% by 2050). Climate change impacts will further stress the water availability enhancing also its conflictual use. The agricultural sector, the biggest and least efficient water user, accounts for around 24% of total water use in Europe, peaking at 80% in the southern regions, is likely to face important challenges in order to sustain food production and parsimonious use of water.</p><p>The paper shows the development of a system for operative irrigation water management able to monitor and forecast the crop water need reducing the irrigation losses and increasing the water use efficiency. The system couples together satellite and ground data, with pixel wise hydrological soil water balance model using recent scientifically outcomes on soil moisture retrieval from satellite data and hydrological modelling. Discussion on the methodological approach based on the satellite land surface temperature LST, ground evapotranspiration measures, and pixel wise hydrological modelling is provided proving the reliability of the forecasting system and its benefits.</p><p>The activity is part of the European Chinese collaborative project (SIM, Smart Irrigation Modelling, www.sim.polimi.it) which has as main objective the parsimonious use of agricultural water through an operational web tool to reduce the use of water, fertilizer and energy keeping a constant crop yield. The system provides in real-time the present and forecasted irrigation water requirements at high spatial and temporal resolutions with forecast horizons from few up to thirty days, according to different agronomic practices supporting different level of water users from irrigation consortia to single farmers.</p><p>The system is applied in different experimental sites which are located in Italy, the Netherlands, China and Spain, which are characterized by different climatic conditions, water availability, crop types and irrigation schemes. This also thanks to the collaboration of several stakeholders as the Italian ANBI, Capitanata and Chiese irrigation consortia and Dutch Aa and Maas water authority</p><p>The results are shown for two case studies in Italy and in China The Italian ones is the Sud Fortore District of the Capitanata Irrigation consortium which covers an area of about 50’000 hectares with flat topography, hot summer and warm winter, mainly irrigated with pressurized aqueduct. The district is an intensive cultivation area, mainly devoted to wheat, tomatoes and fresh vegetables cultivation The Chinese one is in the Hehie Daman district covering an area of 20000 ha with fixed time flooding irrigation.</p>

Irrigation management through a coupled energy-water balance and crop growth model driven by remote sensing data

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Mancini ◽  
Chiara Corbari ◽  
Imen Ben Charfi ◽  
Ahmad Al Bitar ◽  
Drazen Skokovic ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Water Balance ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Irrigation Water ◽  
Crop Yields ◽  
Irrigation Management ◽  
Balance Model ◽  
Soil Parameters ◽  
Area Index ◽  
Landsat 7

<p>The conflicting use of water is becoming more and more evident, also in regions that are traditionally rich in water. With the world’s population projected to increase to 8.5 billion by 2030, the simultaneous growth in income will imply a substantial increase in demand for both water and food. Climate change impacts will further stress the water availability enhancing also its conflictual use. The agricultural sector is the biggest and least efficient water user, accounts for around 24% of total water use in Europe, peaking at 80% in the southern regions.</p><p>This paper shows the implementation of a system for real-time operative irrigation water management at high spatial and temporal able to monitor the crop water needs reducing the irrigation losses and increasing the water use efficiency, according to different agronomic practices supporting different level of water users from irrigation consortia to single farmers. The system couples together satellite (land surface temperature LST and vegetation information) and ground data, with pixel wise hydrological crop soil water energy balance model. In particular, the SAFY (Simple Algorithm for Yield) crop model has been coupled with the pixel wise energy water balance FEST-EWB model, which assimilate satellite LST for its soil parameters calibration. The essence of this coupled modelling is that the SAFY provides the leaf area index (LAI) evolution in time used by the FEST-EWB for evapotranspiration computation while FEST-EWB model provides soil moisture (SM) to SAFY model for computing crop grow for assigned water content.</p><p>The FEST-EWB-SAFY has been firstly calibrated in specific fields of Chiese (maize crop) and Capitanata (tomatoes) where ground measurements of evapotranspiration, soil moisture and crop yields are available, as well as LAI from Sentinel2-Landsat 7 and 8 data. The FEST-EWB-SAFY model has then been validated also on several fields of the RICA farms database in the two Italian consortia, where the economic data are available plus the crop yield. Finally, the modelled maps of LAI have then been validated over the whole Consortium area (Chiese and Capitanata) against satellite data of LAI from Landsat 7 and 8, and Sentinel-2.</p><p>Optimized irrigation volumes are assessed based on a soil moisture thresholds criterion, allowing to reduce the passages over the field capacity threshold reducing the percolation flux with a saving of irrigation volume without affecting evapotranspiration and so that the crop production. The implemented strategy has shown a significative irrigation water saving, also in this area where a traditional careful use of water is assessed.</p><p>The activity is part of the European project RET-SIF (www.retsif.polimi.it).</p>

Development and Evaluation of a Variable-Rate Irrigation Management Method in the Mississippi Delta

2021 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 287-298
Author(s):  
Ruixiu Sui ◽  
Jonnie Baggard
Keyword(s):  
Electrical Conductivity ◽  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Irrigation Water ◽  
Mississippi Delta ◽  
Water Productivity ◽  
Variable Rate ◽  
Irrigation Water Use ◽  
Irrigation Water Productivity ◽  
Variable Rate Irrigation

HighlightsWe developed and evaluated a variable-rate irrigation (VRI) management method for five crop years in the Mississippi Delta.VRI management significantly reduced irrigation water use in comparison with uniform-rate irrigation (URI). There was no significant difference in grain yield and irrigation water productivity between VRI and URI management.Soil apparent electrical conductivity (ECa) was used to delineate irrigation management zones and generate VRI prescriptions.Sensor-measured soil water content was used in irrigation scheduling.Abstract. Variable-rate irrigation (VRI) allows producers to site-specifically apply irrigation water at variable rates within a field to account for the temporal and spatial variability in soil and plant characteristics. Developing practical VRI methods and documenting the benefits of VRI application are critical to accelerate the adoption of VRI technologies. Using apparent soil electrical conductivity (ECa) and soil moisture sensors, a VRI method was developed and evaluated with corn and soybean for five crop years in the Mississippi Delta. Soil ECa of the study fields was mapped and used to delineate VRI management zones and create VRI prescriptions. Irrigation was scheduled using soil volumetric water content measured by soil moisture sensors. A center pivot VRI system was employed to deliver irrigation water according to the VRI prescription. Grain yield, irrigation water use, and irrigation water productivity in the VRI treatment were determined and compared with that in a uniform-rate irrigation (URI) treatment. Results showed that the grain yield and irrigation water productivity between the VRI and URI treatments were not statistically different with both corn and soybean crops. The VRI management significantly reduced the amount of irrigation water by 22% in corn and by 11% in soybean (p = 0.05). Adoption of VRI management could improve irrigation water use efficiency in the Mississippi Delta. Keywords: Soil electrical conductivity, Soil moisture sensor, Variable rate irrigation, Water management.

scholarly journals Adaptation Effort and Performance of Water Management Strategies to Face Climate Change Impacts in Six Representative Basins of Southern Europe

Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 1078 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alvaro Sordo-Ward ◽  
Alfredo Granados ◽  
Ana Iglesias ◽  
Luis Garrote ◽  
María Bejarano
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Water Availability ◽  
Water Allocation ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
River Network ◽  
Climate Change Scenarios ◽  
Southern Europe ◽  
Management Measures ◽  
Irrigation Water Use

We evaluated different management alternatives to enhance potential water availability for agriculture under climate change scenarios. The management goal involved maximizing potential water availability, understood as the maximum volume of water supplied at a certain point of the river network that satisfies a defined demand, and taking into account specified reliability requirements. We focused on potential water availability for agriculture and assumed two types of demands: urban supply and irrigation. If potential water availability was not enough to satisfy all irrigation demands, management measures were applied aiming at achieving a compromise solution between resources and demands. The methodological approach consisted of estimation and comparison of runoff for current and future period under climate change effects, calculation of water availability changes due to changes in runoff, and evaluation of the adaptation choices that can modify the distribution of water availability, under climate change. Adaptation choices include modifying water allocation to agriculture, increasing the reservoir storage capacity, improving the efficiency of urban water use, and modifying water allocation to environmental flows. These management measures were evaluated at the desired points of the river network by applying the Water Availability and Adaptation Policy Analysis (WAAPA) model. We simulated the behavior of a set of reservoirs that supply water for a set of prioritized demands, complying with specified ecological flows and accounting for evaporation losses. We applied the methodology in six representative basins of southern Europe: Duero-Douro, Ebro, Guadalquivir, Po, Maritsa-Evros, and Struma-Strymon. While in some basins, such as the Ebro or Struma-Strymon, measures can significantly increase water availability and compensate for a fraction of water scarcity due to climate change, in other basins, like the Guadalquivir, water availability cannot be enhanced by applying the management measures analyzed, and irrigation water use will have to be reduced.

Studies on Transpiration Suppressants on Spring Sorghum in North-Western India in Relation to Soil Moisture Regimes. I. Effect on Yield and Water Use Efficiency

1984 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-159
Author(s):  
D. Boobathi Babu ◽  
S. P. Singh
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Water Use Efficiency ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Irrigation Water ◽  
Field Experiments ◽  
Western India ◽  
Moisture Regimes ◽  
Use Efficiency ◽  
Effect On Yield ◽  
North Western

SUMMARYThe results of field experiments conducted in the spring seasons (February/March to June) of 1980 and 1981 indicate that grain yields of sorghum increased with increase in frequency of irrigation. Crops sprayed with atrazine or CCC yielded more than the unsprayed control; maximum yields were obtained by the application of atrazine at 200 g ha−1. Water use efficiency decreased with increase in irrigation but increased as a result of spraying crops with either chemical. Irrigation water can be saved by the spraying of atrazine or CCC onto spring-sown sorghum.

An Integrated Variational Framework for Mapping Evapotranspiration by Assimilating GOES LST and SMAP data

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leila farhadi ◽  
Abedeh Abdolghafoorian
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Great Plains ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Water Cycle ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Coupled Model ◽  
Balance Model ◽  
Parameter Estimates ◽  
Dynamic Feedback ◽  
Unknown Parameters

<p>Evapotranspiration (ET) is a key component of terrestrial water cycle that plays an important role in the Earth system. Aaccurate estimation of ET is crucial in various hydrological, meteorological, and agricultural applications. In situ measurements of ET are costly and cannot be readily scaled to regional scales relevant to weather and climate studies. Therefore, there is a need for techniques to make quantitative estimates of ET using land surface state observations that are widely available from remote sensing across a range of spatial scales.</p><p>In this work, A variational data (VDA) assimilation framework is developed to estimate ET by assimilating Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) soil moisture and Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) land surface temperature data into a coupled dual-source energy and water balance model.</p><p>The VDA framework estimates the key parameters of the coupled model, which regulate the partitioning of available energy (i.e., neutral bulk heat transfer coefficient (CH<sub>N</sub>) and evaporative fraction from soil (EF<sub>S</sub>) and canopy (EF<sub>C</sub>)). The uncertainties of the retrieved unknown parameters are estimated through the inverse of Hessian of cost function, obtained using the Lagrangian methodology. Analysis of the second-order information provides a tool to identify the optimum parameter estimates and guides towards a well-posed estimation problem.</p><p>The VDA framework is implemented over an area of 21780 km<sup>2</sup> in the U.S. Southern Great Plains (with computational grid size of 0.05 degree) during a nine-month period. The maps of retrieved evaporation and transpiration are used to study a number of dynamic feedback mechanisms between the land and atmosphere, such as the dependence of evapotranspiration on vegetation and soil moisture.</p>

Assessing soil moisture constraint on soil evaporation and plant transpiration fractioning

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bouchra Ait Hssaine ◽  
Olivier Merlin ◽  
Jamal Ezzahar ◽  
Salah Er-raki ◽  
Saïd Khabba ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Water Resource Management ◽  
Root Zone ◽  
Temporal Variations ◽  
Soil Evaporation ◽  
Balance Model ◽  
Wheat Crop ◽  
Soil Resistance ◽  
Plant Transpiration

<p>Over semi-arid agricultural regions, detecting the crop water need at the onset of water stress is of paramount importance for optimizing the use of irrigation water. Evapotranspiration (ET) is a crucial component of the water cycle, it strongly impacts the water resource management, drought monitoring, and climate. Remote sensing observations provide very relevant information to feed ET models. In particular, the microwave-derived surface (0-5 cm) soil moisture (SM), which is the main controlling factor of soil evaporation, the visible/near-infratred-derived vegetation cover fraction (fc), which provides an essential structural constraint on the fractioning between vegetation transpiration and soil evaporation, and - thermal-derived land surface temperature (LST), which is a signature of both available energy and evapotranspiration (ET) rate. The aim of this work is to integrate those independent and complementary information on total ET within an energy balance model. As a state-of-the-art and commonly used model, we chose the TSEB modelling as a basis for developments. An innovative calibration procedure is proposed to retrieve the main parameters of soil evaporation (soil resistance, r<sub>ss</sub>) and plant transpiration (Priestly Taylor coefficient, α<sub>PT</sub>) based on a threshold on fc. The procedure is applied over an irrigated wheat field in the Tensift basin, central Morocco. Overall, the coupling of the soil resistance formulation with the TSEB formalism improves the estimation of soil evaporation, and consequently, improves the partitioning of ET. Analysis of the retrieved time series indicates that the daily α<sub>PT</sub> mainly follows the phenology of winter wheat crop with a maximum value coincident with the full development of green biomass and a minimum value reached at harvest. The temporal variations of α<sub>PT</sub> before senescence are attributed to the dynamics of both the root zone soil moisture and the amount of green biomass.</p>

scholarly journals Assessment of Irrigation Water Use Patterns Using Remote Sensing Data in Mexico’s Northeast

10.29007/qz1w ◽  
2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saul Arciniega ◽  
Jose A. Breña-Naranjo ◽  
Adrián Pedrozo-Acuña ◽  
Antonio Hernández-Espriú
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Irrigation Water ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Irrigation System ◽  
Functional Model ◽  
Remote Sensing Data ◽  
Irrigation Scheduling ◽  
Sensing Data ◽  
Irrigation Water Use

Irrigation water use (IWU) or withdrawal is a key component for the water management of a region since it tends to exceed the crops consumptive water use, especially in water-stressed regions where groundwater is the main source of water. Nevertheless, temporal IWU information is missing in many irrigation areas. Remote sensing (RS) data is commonly used for crop water requirements estimations in areas with lack of data, however, IWU is more complex to approach since it also depends on water use efficiency, irrigation system type, irrigation scheduling, and water availability, among others. This work explores the use of remote sensing data (TRMM, MODIS) and land surface hydrological products (GLDAS 2 and MERRA 2) to obtain insights about the space-time annual IWU patterns across croplands located within Mexico’s northeast region. Reported IWU in three irrigation districts (Don Martín, Región Lagunera and Bajo Río Bravo) was used to obtain a functional model using satellite data derived. Results suggest strong relationship between reported IWU with soil moisture content from GLDAS and the maximum annual EVI from MODIS, where a potential regression shown statistical correlations of 0.83 and 0.77, respectively.

scholarly journals Hydroclimatic regimes: a distributed water-balance framework for hydrologic assessment and classification

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 2933-2965 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. K. Weiskel ◽  
D. M. Wolock ◽  
P. J. Zarriello ◽  
R. M. Vogel ◽  
S. B. Levin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Surface Water ◽  
Water Balance ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Water Availability ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Resource Assessment ◽  
Annual Runoff ◽  
Balance Model ◽  
Equal Weight ◽  
Terrestrial Water

Abstract. Runoff-based indicators of terrestrial water availability are appropriate for humid regions, but have tended to limit our basic hydrologic understanding of drylands – the dry-sub-humid, semi-arid, and arid regions which presently cover nearly half of the global land surface. In response, we introduce an indicator framework that gives equal weight to humid and dryland regions, accounting fully for both vertical (precipitation + evapotranspiration) and horizontal (groundwater + surface-water) components of the hydrologic cycle in any given location – as well as fluxes into and out of landscape storage. We apply the framework to a diverse hydroclimatic region (the conterminous USA), using a distributed water-balance model consisting of 53 400 networked landscape hydrologic units. Our model simulations indicate that about 21% of the conterminous USA either generated no runoff or consumed runoff from upgradient sources on a mean-annual basis during the 20th century. Vertical fluxes exceeded horizontal fluxes across 76% of the conterminous area. Long-term average total water availability (TWA) during the 20th century, defined here as the total influx to a landscape hydrologic unit from precipitation, groundwater, and surface water, varied spatially by about 400 000-fold, a range of variation ~100 times larger than that for mean-annual runoff across the same area. The framework includes, but is not limited to classical, runoff-based approaches to water-resource assessment. It also incorporates and re-interprets the green-blue water perspective now gaining international acceptance. Implications of the new framework for hydrologic assessment and classification are explored.

scholarly journals A comparison between remotely-sensed and modelled surface soil moisture (and frozen status) at high latitudes

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 11241-11291 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Gouttevin ◽  
A. Bartsch ◽  
G. Krinner ◽  
V. Naeimi
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Surface Soil ◽  
Land Surface Model ◽  
Remotely Sensed ◽  
Hydrological Modelling ◽  
Northern Eurasia ◽  
Surface Model ◽  
Surface Soil Moisture ◽  
North Eastern

Abstract. In this study, the combined surface status and surface soil moisture products retrieved by the ASCAT sensor within the ESA-DUE Permafrost project are compared to the hydrological outputs of the land surface model ORCHIDEE over Northern Eurasia. The objective is to derive broad conclusions as to the strengths and weaknesses of hydrological modelling and, to a minor extent, remote sensing of soil moisture over an area where data is rare and hydrological modelling is though crucial for climate and ecological applications. The spatial and temporal resolutions of the ASCAT products make them suitable for comparison with model outputs. Modelled and remotely-sensed surface frozen and unfrozen statuses agree reasonably well, which allows for a seasonal comparison between modelled and observed (liquid) surface soil moisture. The atmospheric forcing and the snow scheme of the land surface model are identified as causes of moderate model-to-data divergence in terms of surface status. For unfrozen soils, the modelled and remotely-sensed surface soil moisture signals are positively correlated over most of the study area. The correlation deteriorates in the North-Eastern Siberian regions, which is consistent with the lack of accurate model parameters and the scarcity of meteorological data. The model shows a reduced ability to capture the main seasonal dynamics and spatial patterns of observed surface soil moisture in Northern Eurasia, namely a characteristic spring surface moistening resulting from snow melt and flooding. We hypothesize that these weak performances mainly originate from the non-representation of flooding and surface ponding in the model. Further identified limitations proceed from the coarse treatment of the hydrological specificities of mountainous areas and spatial inaccuracies in the meteorological forcing in remote, North-Eastern Siberian areas. Investigations are currently underway to determine to which extent plausible inaccuracies in the satellite data could also contribute to the diagnosed model-to-data discrepancies.

scholarly journals Estimating irrigation water use over the contiguous United States by combining satellite and reanalysis soil moisture data

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felix Zaussinger ◽  
Wouter Dorigo ◽  
Alexander Gruber ◽  
Angelica Tarpanelli ◽  
Paolo Filippucci ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
United States ◽  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Irrigation Water ◽  
Soil Layer ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Soil Moisture Data ◽  
Irrigation Water Use ◽  
Irrigation Practices

Abstract. Effective agricultural water management requires accurate and timely information on the availability and use of irrigation water. However, most existing information on irrigation water use (IWU) lacks the objectivity and spatio-temporal representativeness needed for operational water management and meaningful characterisation of land-climate interactions. Although optical remote sensing has been used to map the area affected by irrigation, it does not physically allow for the estimation of the actual amount of irrigation water applied. On the other hand, microwave observations of the moisture content in the top soil layer are directly influenced by agricultural irrigation practices, and thus potentially allow for the quantitative estimation of IWU. In this study, we combine surface soil moisture retrievals from the spaceborne SMAP, AMSR2, and ASCAT microwave sensors with modelled soil moisture from MERRA-2 reanalysis to derive monthly IWU dynamics over the contiguous United States (CONUS) for the period 2013–2016. The methodology is driven by the assumption that the hydrology formulation of the MERRA-2 model does not account for irrigation, while the remotely sensed soil moisture retrievals do contain an irrigation signal. For many CONUS irrigation hot spots, the estimated spatial irrigation patterns show good agreement with a reference data set on irrigated areas. Moreover, in intensively irrigated areas, the temporal dynamics of observed IWU is meaningful with respect to ancillary data on local irrigation practices. State-aggregated mean IWU volumes derived from the combination of SMAP and MERRA-2 soil moisture show a good correlation with statistically reported state-level irrigation water withdrawals but systematically underestimate them. We argue that this discrepancy can be mainly attributed to the coarse spatial resolution of the employed satellite soil moisture retrievals, which fails to resolve local irrigation practices. Consequently, higher resolution soil moisture data are needed to further enhance the accuracy of IWU mapping.

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