Assessing crop coefficients for natural vegetated areas using satellite data and eddy covariance stations

The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) method for potential evapotranspiration assessment is based on the crop coefficient, which allows one to relate the reference evapotranspiration of well irrigated grass to the potential evapotranspiration of specific crops. The method was originally developed for cultivated species based on lysimeter measurements of potential evapotranspiration. Not many applications to natural vegetated areas exist due to the lack of available data for these species. In this paper we investigate the potential of using evapotranspiration measurements acquired by micrometeorological stations for the definition of crop coefficient functions of natural vegetated areas and extrapolation to ungauged sites through remotely sensed data. Pastures, deciduous and evergreen forests have been considered and lower crop coefficient values are found with respect to FAO data

Modified Hargreaves-Samani Equation for the Assessment of Reference Evapotranspiration in Alpine River Basins

n/

Limitations and improvements of the energy balance closure with reference to experimental data measured over a maize field

The use of energy fluxes data to validate land surface models requires that energy balance closure conservation is satisfied, but usually this condition is not verified when the available energy is bigger than the sum of turbulent vertical fluxes. In this work, a comprehensive evaluation of energy balance closure problems is performed on a 2012 data set from Livraga obtained by a micrometeorological eddy covariance station located in a maize field in the Po Valley. Energy balance closure is calculated by statistical regression of turbulent energy fluxes and soil heat flux against available energy. Generally, the results indicate a lack of closure with a mean imbalance in the order of 20%. Storage terms are the main reason for the unclosed energy balance but also the turbulent mixing conditions play a fundamental role in reliable turbulent flux estimations. Recently introduced in literature, the energy balance problem has been studied as a scale problem. A representative source area for each flux of the energy balance has been analyzed and the closure has been performed in function of turbulent flux footprint areas. Surface heterogeneity and seasonality effects have been studied to 336 understand the influence of canopy growth on the energy balance closure. High frequency data have been used to calculate co-spectral and ogive functions, which suggest that an averaging period of 30 min may miss temporal scales that contribute to the turbulent fluxes. Finally, latent and sensible heat random error estimations are computed to give information about the measurement system and turbulence transport deficiencies

Real-time drought forecasting system for irrigation management

In recent years frequent periods of water scarcity have enhanced the need to use water more carefully, even in European areas which traditionally have an abundant supply of water, such as the Po Valley in northern Italy. In dry periods, water shortage problems can be enhanced by conflicting uses of water, such as irrigation, industry and power production (hydroelectric and thermoelectric). Furthermore, in the last decade the social perspective in relation to this issue has been increasing due to the possible impact of climate change and global warming scenarios which emerge from the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report (IPCC, 2013). Hence, the increased frequency of drought periods has stimulated the improvement of irrigation and water management. In this study we show the development and implementation of the PREGI real-time drought forecasting system; PREGI is an Italian acronym that means "hydro-meteorological forecast for irrigation management". The system, planned as a tool for irrigation optimization, is based on meteorological ensemble forecasts (20 members) at medium range (30 days) coupled with hydrological simulations of water balance to forecast the soil water content on a maize field in the Muzza Bassa Lodigiana (MBL) consortium in northern Italy. The hydrological model was validated against measurements of latent heat flux acquired by an eddy-covariance station, and soil moisture measured by TDR (time domain reflectivity) probes; the reliability of this forecasting system and its benefits were assessed in the 2012 growing season. The results obtained show how the proposed drought forecasting system is able to have a high reliability of forecast at least for 7–10 days ahead of time

Multi-Satellite Data of Land Surface Temperature, Lakes Area, and Water Level for Hydrological Model Calibration and Validation in the Yangtze River Basin

This study shows the feasibility of the combined use of multi-satellite data and an energy–water balance model for improving the estimates of water fluxes over time and distributed in space in the Yangtze River basin. In particular, a new methodology is used to constrain an internal model variable of the distributed hydrological model based on the satellite land surface temperature. The hydrological FEST-EWB model (flash flood event-based spatially distributed rainfall–runoff transformation–energy water balance model) with its energy–water balance scheme allows to continuously compute in time and distributed in space soil moisture and evapotranspiration (ET) fluxes thanks to a double link with satellite-derived data as input parameters (e.g., LAI) and as variables for model states’ updates as the land surface temperature (LST). This LST was used to calibrate the model soil parameters instead of using only dedicated ground measurements. The effects of the calibration procedure were evaluated at four available river cross-sections along the Yangtze River, considering also the presence of the Three Gorges Dam. Flow duration curves were also considered to understand the volume storages’ changes. The Poyang and Dongting Lakes dynamics were simulated from FEST-EWB and compared against satellite water extended from MERIS and ASAR data and water levels from LEGOS altimetry data (Topex/Poseidon). The FEST-EWB model was run at 0.009° spatial resolution and three hours of temporal resolutions for the period between 2003 and 2006. Absolute errors on LST estimates of 3 °C were obtained while discharge data were simulated with errors of 10%. Errors on the water area extent of 7% and on the water level of 3% were obtained for the two lakes

simsmart irrigation

For the SIM project ("SMART IRRIGATION FROM SOIL MOISTURE FORECAST USING SATELLITE AND HYDRO –METEOROLOGICAL MODELLING"), the final partners presentation and the mid-term report are available

Irrigation efficiency optimization at multiple stakeholders' levels based on remote sensing data and energy water balance modelling

The agricultural sector, the largest and least efficient water user, is facing important challenges in sustaining food production and careful water use. The objective of this study is to improve farm and irrigation district water use efficiency by developing an operational procedure for smart irrigation and optimizing the exact water use and relative water productivity. The SIM (smart irrigation monitoring and forecasting) optimization irrigation strategy, based on soil moisture (SM) and crop stress thresholds, was implemented in the Chiese (North Italy) and Capitanata (South Italy) Irrigation Consortia. The system is based on the energy-water balance model FEST-EWB (Flashflood Event-based Spatially distributed rainfall runoff Transformation Energy-Water Balance model), which was pixelwise calibrated with remotely sensed land surface temperature (LST), with mean areal absolute errors of approximately 3 degrees C, and then validated against local measured SM and latent heat flux (LE) with RMSE values of approximately 0.07 and 40 Wm(-2), respectively. The effect of the optimization strategy was evaluated on the reductions in irrigation volume and on the different timing, from approximately 500 mm over the crop season in the Capitanata area to approximately 1000 mm in the Chiese district, as well as on cumulated drainage and ET fluxes. The irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE) indicator appears to be higher when applying the SIM strategy than when applying the traditional irrigation strategy: greater than 35% for the tomato fields in southern Italy and 80% for maize fields in northern Italy