Potential of using remote sensing techniques for global assessment of water footprint of crops

Remote sensing has long been a useful tool in global applications, since it provides physically-based, worldwide, and consistent spatial information. This paper discusses the potential of using these techniques in the research field of water management, particularly for ‘Water Footprint’ (WF) studies. The WF of a crop is defined as the volume of water consumed for its production, where green and blue WF stand for rain and irrigation water usage, respectively. In this paper evapotranspiration, precipitation, water storage, runoff and land use are identified as key variables to potentially be estimated by remote sensing and used for WF assessment. A mass water balance is proposed to calculate the volume of irrigation applied, and green and blue WF are obtained from the green and blue evapotranspiration components. The source of remote sensing data is described and a simplified example is included, which uses evapotranspiration estimates from the geostationary satellite Meteosat 9 and precipitation estimates obtained with the Climatic Prediction Center Morphing Technique (CMORPH). The combination of data in this approach brings several limitations with respect to discrepancies in spatial and temporal resolution and data availability, which are discussed in detail. This work provides new tools for global WF assessment and represents an innovative approach to global irrigation mapping, enabling the estimation of green and blue water use

Comparing estimates of actual evapotranspiration from satellites, hydrological models, and field data: a case study from Western Turkey

Evapotranspiration / Estimation / Remote sensing / Satellite surveys / Field tests / Measurement / Productivity / Crops / Water requirements / Water balance / Irrigation management / River basins / Hydrology / Models / Turkey / Gediz River

Using remote sensing assessments to document historical and current saved consumptive use (CU) on alfalfa and grass hayfields managed under full and partial-season irrigation regimes

August 2017.Includes bibliographical references

Evaluating Landsat 8 evapotranspiration for water use mapping in the Colorado River Basin

AbstractEvapotranspiration (ET) mapping at the Landsat spatial resolution (100m) is essential to fully understand water use and water availability at the field scale. Water use estimates in the Colorado River Basin (CRB), which has diverse ecosystems and complex hydro-climatic regions, will be helpful to water planners and managers. Availability of Landsat 8 images, starting in 2013, provides the opportunity to map ET in the CRB to assess spatial distribution and patterns of water use. The Operational Simplified Surface Energy Balance (SSEBop) model was used with 528 Landsat 8 images to create seamless monthly and annual ET estimates at the inherent 100m thermal band resolution. Annual ET values were summarized by land use/land cover classes. Croplands were the largest consumer of “blue” water while shrublands consumed the most “green” water. Validation using eddy covariance (EC) flux towers and water balance approaches showed good accuracy levels with R2 ranging from 0.74 to 0.95 and the Nash–Sutcliffe model efficiency coefficient ranging from 0.66 to 0.91. The root mean square error (and percent bias) ranged from 0.48mm (13%) to 0.60mm (22%) for daily (days of satellite overpass) ET and from 7.75mm (2%) to 13.04mm (35%) for monthly ET. The spatial and temporal distribution of ET indicates the utility of Landsat 8 for providing important information about ET dynamics across the landscape. Annual crop water use was estimated for five selected irrigation districts in the Lower CRB where annual ET per district ranged between 681mm to 772mm. Annual ET by crop type over the Maricopa Stanfield irrigation district ranged from a low of 384mm for durum wheat to a high of 990mm for alfalfa fields. A rainfall analysis over the five districts suggested that, on average, 69% of the annual ET was met by irrigation. Although the enhanced cloud-masking capability of Landsat 8 based on the cirrus band and utilization of the Fmask algorithm improved the removal of contaminated pixels, the ability to reliably estimate ET over clouded areas remains an important challenge. Overall, the performance of Landsat 8 based ET compared to available EC datasets and water balance estimates for a complex basin such as the CRB demonstrates the potential of using Landsat 8 for annual water use estimation at a national scale. Future efforts will focus on (a) use of consistent methodology across years, (b) integration of multiple sensors to maximize images used, and (c) employing cloud-computing platforms for large scale processing capabilities

The impact of irrigation return flow on seasonal groundwater recharge in northwestern Bangladesh

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Hydrologic Modeling in Semi-Arid Agricultural Region : An Integrated Approach to Study Water Resources in Southern San Joaquin Valley, California

Drought is one of the most severe natural hazards in the world. This research aims at assessing the limited water resources for better crop-water irrigation and conservation of a drought affected agricultural area in California. Evapotranspiration (ET) is one of the most important parameter to study crop water use for irrigation scheduling and water management. The remote sensing based ET estimation using Surface Energy Balance Algorithm for Land (SEBAL) is the efficient way to understand crop water use. Crop Water Stress Index (CWSI) quantifies plant stress under different field conditions. The remote sensing approach allows efficient irrigation by applying water when symptoms of water stress appear. To avoid water stress and poor productivity, agriculture relies heavily on surface-water diversions and groundwater extraction. The flow of percolated irrigated water and identification of potential recharge area in the field can minimize the water stress. A thorough understanding of the ET processes and reliable estimates of ET as well as precipitation are required to obtain reliable estimates for water balance. Results show that the average actual evapotranspiration (ETa) estimated from SEBAL, and Penman-Monteith (PM) was 0.67 mm/h and 0.75 mm/h respectively, with a mean percent difference of 0.109%. The analysis shows that the CWSI when greater than 0.5 resulted in maximum stress whereas the well-irrigated almond crops have CWSI less than 0.24. The flow of groundwater can indirectly influence the status of water stress and ET. It was observed that the groundwater is flowing towards the east of the study area. Excess irrigated water contributes to groundwater recharge. The average Water Surface Elevation (WSE) in 1955 for the growing season (May to July) is 161.04 m. This value is low when compared to those of 2009, 2010, and 2011, which are 237.14 m, 236.28 m, and 235.74 m respectively. The result shows that the average WSE in the wells increased. The total annual deficit in the region is 135.66 ± 11.3 mm and the total annual surplus is 291.47 ± 24.29 mm. Irrigation should apply when this region undergoes a period of moisture deficit in the months of May to July. From September to October are months of soil water recharge; from November to early February is the period of water surplus due to winter rainfall. It was observed that the growers should apply a depth of approximately 79.37± 11.3 mm to replenish the soil moisture storage over the entire field in the growing season of almond orchards

Performance of Large-Scale Gezira Irrigation Scheme and its Implications for Downstream River Nile Flow

Policy makers adopt irrigated agriculture for food security, since irrigation doubles crop production. Therefore, the development of large irrigation systems has a long history in many places worldwide. Although large-scale irrigation schemes play an important role in improving food security, many schemes, especially in Africa, do not yield the expected outcomes. This is related to poor water management, which is generally due to a lack of effective evaluation and monitoring. The objective of this study, therefore, is to propose a new methodology to assess, evaluate and monitor large-scale irrigation systems. Information on irrigation indicators is needed to enable the evaluation of irrigation performance. The evaluation is the first and the most significant step in providing information about how it is performing. After reviewing extensive literature, a list of indicators related to the performance of irrigation, rainwater supply and productivity is suggested. The irrigation efficiency indicators Relative Irrigation Supply (RIS) and Relative Water Supply (RWS) are selected. Potential rainwater supply to crops can be tested based on the Moisture Availability Index (MAI) and the Ratio of Moisture Availability (RMA). Water productivity can be assessed by Crop Yield (Y) and Water Use Efficiency (WUE). However, the central problem facing large-scale irrigation schemes is always the lack of data, which calls for the development of a new method of data acquisition that allows evaluation and monitoring. Remote Sensing (RS) technology makes it possible to retrieve data across large areas. Two different approaches via RS, the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Actual Evapotranspiration (ETa), can be utilized for monitoring. The well-known Vegetation Condition Index (VCI), derived from the NDVI, is modified (MVCI) to allow a qualitative spatio-temporal assessment of irrigation efficiency. MVCI takes into account crop response to water availability, while ETa indicates whether water is used as intended. Furthermore, the assessment of the possible hydrological impact of the irrigation system should be considered in the evaluation and monitoring process. The Sudanese Gezira Scheme of 8,000 square kilometers in the Nile Basin, where performance evaluation and monitoring are absent or poorly conducted, is no exception. This research takes the large-scale irrigation of the Gezira Scheme as a case study, as it is the largest scheme, not only in the Nile Basin but also in the world, under single management. The first long-term historical evaluation of the scheme is conducted for the period 1961–2012 rather than only on a short-time scale as is the common practice. An increase in RIS and RWS values from 1.40 and 1.70 to 2.23 and 2.60, respectively, since the 1993/94 season shows decreasing irrigation efficiency. MAI and RMA for summer crops indicate a promising rainfall contribution to irrigation in July and August. The Gezira Scheme achieves low yield and WUE in comparison to many irrigation schemes of the globe. Low productivity is mainly due to poor distribution and irrigation mismanagement. This is indicated by the 15-year MVCI spatio-temporal analysis, which shows that the northern part of the scheme experiences characteristic drought during the summer crop season. Although MVCI can be considered a monitoring tool, the index does not deduct the soil water content, and water could be wasted and available in other ways (e.g. water depressions). Spatio-temporal information for ETa is required to better quantify water depletion and establish links between land use and water allocation. However, several RS models have been developed for estimating ETa. Thus, improving the understanding of performance of such models in arid climates, as well as large-scale irrigation schemes, is taken into account in this study. Four different models based on the energy balance method, the Surface Energy Balance Algorithm for Land (SEBAL), Mapping EvapoTranspiration at High Resolution with Internalized Calibration (METRIC™), Simplified Surface Energy Balance (SSEB) and MOD16 ET are applied in order to determine the optimal approach for obtaining ETa. Outputs from these models are compared to actual water balance (WB) estimates during the 2004/05 season at field scale. Several statistical measures are evaluated, and a score is given for each model in order to select the best-performing model. Based on ranking criteria, SSEB gives the best performance and is seen as a suitable operational ETa model for the scheme. SSEB subsequently is applied for summer and winter crop seasons for the period 2000–2014. Unfortunately, one of the limitations faced in the current research is the absence of validation data on a regional scale. Therefore, the assessment focuses on spatial distribution and trends rather than absolute values. As with the MVCI distribution, the seasonal ETa for the Gezira Scheme is higher in the southern and central parts than in the northern part. This confirms the robustness of the developed MVCI. To avoid using absolute values of ETa, the ratio of ETa from agricultural areas (ETagr) to the total evapotranspiration (ET) from the scheme (ETsum) is calculated. The ETagr/ETsum ratio shows a descending trend over recent years, indicating that the water is available but not being utilized for agricultural production. This study shows that SSEB is also useful for identifying the location of water losses on a daily basis. Around 80 channels are identified as having leakage problems for the 2013/14 crop season. Such information is very useful for reducing losses at the scheme. In addition, Rainwater Harvesting (WH) is addressed and found to be applicable as an alternative solution for accounting for rainfall in irrigation. It is seen that these management scenarios could save water and increase the overall efficiency of the scheme. It is possible to save 68 million cubic meters of water per year when the overall irrigation efficiency of the scheme is improved by only 1%. A level of efficiency of 75% is predicted from the proposed management scenarios, which could save about 2.6 billion cubic meters of water per year. In conclusion, the present study has developed an innovative method of identifying the problems of large-scale schemes as well as proposing management scenarios to enhance irrigation water management practice. Improved agricultural water management in terms of crop, water and land management can increase food production, thereby alleviating poverty and hunger in an environmentally sustainable manner