Use of geographic information systems and remote sensing as automated tool for variable rate irrigation prescriptions

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Anh Thi Tuan Nguyen

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] Economic as well as water shortage pressure on agricultural use of water has placed added emphasis on efficient irrigation management. Center pivot technology has made great improvement with variable rate irrigation (VRI) technology to vary water application spatially and temporally to maximize the economic and environmental return. Proper management of VRI systems depends on correctly matching the pivot application to specific field temporal and areal conditions. There is need for a tool to accurately and inexpensively define dynamic management zones, to sense within-field variability in real time, and control variable rate water application so that producers are more willing to adopt and utilize the advantages of VRI systems. This study included tests of the center pivot system uniformity performance in 2014 at Delta Research Center in Portageville, MO. The goal of this research was to develop MOPivot software with an algorithm to determine unique management areas under center pivot systems based on system design and limitations. The MOPivot tool automates prescriptions for VRI center pivot based on non-uniform water needs while avoiding potential runoff and deep percolation. The software was validated for use in real-time irrigation management in 2018 for VRI control system of a Valley 8000 center pivot planted to corn. The water balance model was used to manage irrigation scheduling. Field data, together with soil moisture sensor measurement of soil water content, were used to develop the regression model of remote sensing-based crop coefficient (Kc). Remote sensing vegetation index in conjunction with GDD and crop growth stages in regression models showed high correlation with Kc. Validation of those regression models was done using Centralia, MO, field data in 2016. The MOPivot successfully created prescriptions to match system capacity of the management zone based on system limitations for center pivot management. Along with GIS data sources, MOPivot effectively provides readily available graphical prescription maps, which can be edited and directly uploaded to a center pivot control panel. The modeled Kc compared well with FAO Kc. By combining GDD and crop growth in the models, these models would account for local weather conditions and stage of crop during growing season as time index in estimating Kc. These models with Fraction of growth (FrG) and cumulative growing degree days (cGDD) had a higher coefficient of efficiency, higher Nash-Sutcliffe coefficient of efficiency and higher Willmott index of agreement. Future work should include improvement in the MOPivot software with different crops and aerial remote sensing imagery to generate dynamic prescriptions during the season to support irrigation scheduling for real-time monitoring of field conditions.

2018 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 533-548 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Burdette Barker ◽  
Christopher M. U. Neale ◽  
Derek M. Heeren ◽  
Andrew E. Suyker

Abstract. Accurate generation of spatial soil water maps is useful for many types of irrigation management. A hybrid remote sensing evapotranspiration (ET) model combining reflectance-based basal crop coefficients (Kcbrf) and a two-source energy balance (TSEB) model was modified and validated for use in real-time irrigation management. We modeled spatial ET for maize and soybean fields in eastern Nebraska for the 2011-2013 growing seasons. We used Landsat 5, 7, and 8 imagery as remote sensing inputs. In the TSEB, we used the Priestly-Taylor (PT) approximation for canopy latent heat flux, as in the original model formulations. We also used the Penman-Monteith (PM) approximation for comparison. We compared energy balance fluxes and computed ET with measurements from three eddy covariance systems within the study area. Net radiation was underestimated by the model when data from a local weather station were used as input, with mean bias error (MBE) of -33.8 to -40.9 W m-2. The measured incident solar radiation appeared to be biased low. The net radiation model performed more satisfactorily when data from the eddy covariance flux towers were input into the model, with MBE of 5.3 to 11.2 W m-2. We removed bias in the daily energy balance ET using a dimensionless multiplier that ranged from 0.89 to 0.99. The bias-corrected TSEB ET, using weather data from a local weather station and with local ground data in thermal infrared imagery corrections, had MBE = 0.09 mm d-1 (RMSE = 1.49 mm d-1) for PM and MBE = 0.04 mm d-1 (RMSE = 1.18 mm d-1) for PT. The hybrid model used statistical interpolation to combine the two ET estimates. We computed weighting factors for statistical interpolation to be 0.37 to 0.50 for the PM method and 0.56 to 0.64 for the PT method. Provisions were added to the model, including a real-time crop coefficient methodology, which allowed seasonal crop coefficients to be computed with relatively few remote sensing images. This methodology performed well when compared to basal crop coefficients computed using a full season of input imagery. Water balance ET compared favorably with the eddy covariance data after incorporating the TSEB ET. For a validation dataset, the magnitude of MBE decreased from -0.86 mm d-1 (RMSE = 1.37 mm d-1) for the Kcbrf alone to -0.45 mm d-1 (RMSE = 0.98 mm d-1) and -0.39 mm d-1 (RMSE = 0.95 mm d-1) with incorporation of the TSEB ET using the PM and PT methods, respectively. However, the magnitudes of MBE and RMSE were increased for a running average of daily computations in the full May-October periods. The hybrid model did not necessarily result in improved model performance. However, the water balance model is adaptable for real-time irrigation scheduling and may be combined with forecasted reference ET, although the low temporal frequency of satellite imagery is expected to be a challenge in real-time irrigation management. Keywords: Center-pivot irrigation, ET estimation methods, Evapotranspiration, Irrigation scheduling, Irrigation water balance, Model validation, Variable-rate irrigation.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Mar Alsina ◽  
Kyle Knipper ◽  
Martha Anderson ◽  
WIlliam Kustas ◽  
Nicolas Bambach ◽  
...  

<p>Grapevines are one of the major drivers of agriculture in California, representing a production equivalent to $6.25 billion in 2018. Water is scarce, and increasingly intense and prolonged drought periods, like one that recently occurred in the 2012-2016 period, may happen with greater frequency. Consequently, there is a need to develop irrigation management decision tools to help growers maximize water use while maintaining productivity. Furthermore, grapevines are deficit irrigated, and a correct management of the vine water status during the season is key to achieve the target yield and quality. Traditionally, viticulturists use visual clues and/or leaf level indicators of vine water status to regulate the water deficit along the season. However, these methods are time-consuming and only provide discrete data that do not represent the often-high spatial variability of vineyards.  Remote sensing techniques may represent a fast real-time decision-making tool for irrigation management, able to extensively cover multiple vineyards with low human or economic investments. <br>While growers currently calculate the vine water demands using the reference evapotranspiration from a weather station located in the region and a crop coefficient, usually from literature, they don't have any means to measure or estimate the actual water used by the vines. Knowing the actual evapotranspiration (ET) in real-time and at a sub-field scale would provide essential information to monitor vine water status and adjust the irrigation amounts to the real water needs. The aim of the GRAPEX (Grape Remote sensing Atmospheric Profile and Evapotranspiration eXperiment) project, has been to provide growers with an irrigation toolkit that integrates the spatial distribution of vine water use and water status. The project focuses on grapevines, but it will be easily extrapolated to orchards and other crop types.<br>We present the results of a pilot experiment where we applied the scientific developments of the GRAPEX project into a practical tool that growers can use for irrigation management. We run this pilot experiment over 6 commercial grapevine blocks, located in Cloverdale, Sonoma, CA. During the 2019 growing season, we provided the viticulturists with weekly maps of actual ET calculated using the DisALEXI model, Sentinel-2 Normalized Difference Vegetation and Normalized Vegetation Water Indices as well as local weather data, forecasted ET and soil moisture. The data were delivered weekly in a dashboard, including spatial and tabular views, as well as an irrigation recommendation derived from the past week's vine water use and water status data. Along with the remote sensing data, we took periodic measurements of leaf area index, leaf water potential, and gas exchange to evaluate the irrigation practices. We compared the irrigation prescription based on the provided data with the grower's practices. The total season irrigation ranged between 70 and 120 mm depending on the block, and our irrigation recommendations deviated between 10 and 30 mm from the growers' practices, also depending on the block. This analyzes the performance of the ET toolkit in assisting irrigation scheduling for improving water use efficiency of the vineyard blocks.</p>


Proceedings ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 21
Author(s):  
Anna Brook ◽  
Keren Salinas ◽  
Eugenia Monaco ◽  
Antonello Bonfante

The sustainable management of water resources is one of the most important topics to face future climate change and food security. Many countries facing a serious water crisis, due to both natural and artificial causes. The efficient use of water in agriculture is one of the most significant agricultural challenges that modern technologies. These last are considered powerful management instruments able to help farmers achieve the best efficiency in irrigation water use and to increase their incomes by obtaining the highest possible crop yield. In this context, within the project “An advanced low cost system for farm irrigation support—LCIS” (a joint Italian Israeli R&D project), a fully transferable Decision Support Systems (DSS) for irrigation support, based on three different methodologies representative of the state of the art in irrigation management tools (W-Tens, in situ soil sensor; IRRISAT®, remote sensing; W-Mod, simulation modelling of water balance in the soil-plant and atmosphere system), has been developed. These three LCIS-DSS tools have been evaluated, in terms of their ability to support the farmer in irrigation management, in a real applicative case study in Italy and Israel. The main challenge of a new DSS for irrigation is attributed to the uncertain factors during the growing season such as weather uncertainty, and crop monitoring platform. For encounter this challenge, we developed during two years the LCIS, a web-based real-time DSS for irrigation scheduling using low-cost imaging spectroscopy for state estimation of the agriculture system and probabilistic short- and medium-term climate forecasts. While the majority of the existing DSS models are incorporated directly into the optimization framework, we propose to integrate continuous feedback from the field (e.g., soil moisture, crop water-stress, plant stage, LAI, and biomass) estimated based on remote sensing information. These field data will be collected by the point-based spectrometer and hyperspectral imaging system. Then a low-cost camera will be designed for specific spectral/spatial parameters (bound to the required feedbacks). The main objectives were: developing real-time Decision Support System (DSS) for optimal irrigation scheduling at farm scale for crop yield improvement, reducing irrigation cost, and water saving; developing a low-cost imaging spectroscopy framework to support the irrigation scheduling DSS above and facilitates its use in countries/places where expensive imaging spectroscopy is not available; examining the developed framework in real-life application, the framework will be calibrated evaluated using high resolution devices and tested using a low-cost system in Israel and Italy farms.


2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (5) ◽  
pp. 1521-1533
Author(s):  
Manuel A. Andrade ◽  
Susan A. O’Shaughnessy ◽  
Steven R. Evett

HighlightsThe ARSPivot software seamlessly integrates site-specific irrigation scheduling methods with weather, plant, and soil water sensing systems in the operation of variable-rate irrigation (VRI) center pivot systems.ARSPivot embodies an Irrigation Scheduling Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (ISSCADA) system that incorporates site-specific irrigation scheduling methods and automates the collection and processing of data obtained from sensing systems supporting them.ARSPivot incorporates a friendly graphical user interface (GUI) that assists in the process of setting up a computerized representation of a coupled ISSCADA VRI center pivot system and simplifies the review of irrigation prescriptions automatically generated based on sensor feedback.ARSPivot’s GUI includes a geographic information system (GIS) that relates sensed data and imported GIS data to specific field control zones.Abstract. The commercial availability of variable-rate irrigation (VRI) systems gives farmers access to unprecedented control of the irrigation water applied to their fields. To take full advantage of these systems, their operations must integrate site-specific irrigation scheduling methods that in turn should be supported by a network of sensing systems. An Irrigation Scheduling Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (ISSCADA) system patented by scientists with the USDA-Agricultural Research Service (ARS) at Bushland, Texas, incorporates site-specific irrigation scheduling methods informed by weather, plant, and soil water sensing systems. This article introduces a software package, ARSPivot, developed to integrate the ISSCADA system into the operation of VRI center pivot systems. ARSPivot assists the operation and integration of a complex network of sensing systems, irrigation scheduling methods, and irrigation machinery to achieve this end. ARSPivot consists of two independent programs interacting through a client-server architecture. The client program is focused on automatically collecting and processing georeferenced data from sensing systems and communicating with a center pivot control panel, while the server program is focused on communicating with users through a friendly graphical user interface (GUI) involving a geographic information system (GIS). The GUI allows users to visualize and modify site-specific prescription maps automatically generated based on sensor-based irrigation scheduling methods, and to control and monitor the application of irrigation amounts specified in these recommended prescription maps using center pivots equipped for VRI zone control or VRI speed control. This article discusses the principles and design considerations followed in the development of ARSPivot and presents tools implemented in the software for the virtual design and physical operation of a coupled ISSCADA VRI center pivot system. This article also illustrates how the ISSCADA system and ARSPivot constitute a comprehensive sensor-based decision support system (DSS) for VRI management that is accessible to users without in-depth knowledge of sensing systems or irrigation scheduling methods. Keywords: Center pivot irrigation, Decision support system, Precision agriculture, Sensors, Site-specific irrigation scheduling, Software, Variable rate irrigation.n


Irriga ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 585-598
Author(s):  
Pedro Henrique Jandreice Magnoni ◽  
Cesar De Oliveira Ferreira Silva ◽  
Rodrigo Lilla Manzione

SENSORIAMENTO REMOTO APLICADO AO MANEJO DA IRRIGAÇÃO EM ÁREAS COM ESCASSEZ DE DADOS: ESTUDO DE CASO EM PIVÔ CENTRAL EM ITATINGA-SP*     PEDRO HENRIQUE JANDREICE MAGNONI1; CÉSAR DE OLIVEIRA FERREIRA SILVA1 E RODRIGO LILLA MANZIONE2   1 Departamento de Engenharia Rural, Faculdade de Ciências Agronômicas, Universidade Estadual Paulista", Avenida Universitária, n° 3780, Altos do Paraíso, 18610-034, Botucatu, São Paulo, Brasil,  [email protected]; [email protected]. 2 Departamento de Engenharia de Biossistemas, Faculdade de Ciências e Engenharia, Universidade Estadual Paulista “Júlio de Mesquita Filho”, Rua Domingos da Costa Lopes, 780, CEP 17602496, Tupã – SP, Brasil. E-mail: [email protected]. *Este artigo é proveniente das dissertações de mestrado dos dois primeiros autores.     1 RESUMO   Ferramentas baseadas em sensoriamento remoto possibilitam o monitoramento do balanço hídrico da água em diferentes resoluções espaciais e temporais. Ainda assim, modelos que exigem dados in-situ impossibilitam sua aplicação em áreas com escassez de dados. No sentido de lidar com esse desafio, o presente trabalho apresenta uma abordagem de escolha do momento de irrigar, pelo balanço hídrico da água no solo, baseada em estimativa da evapotranspiração real (ETA) obtida com o uso conjunto de imagens multiespectrais do sensor MSI/SENTINEL-2 e dados de uma estação meteorológica pública. A área de estudo foi um pivô central localizado no munícipio de Itatinga-SP. Para a tomada de decisão do momento de irrigar, com base em um manejo por lâmina de irrigação fixa, foi feita a interpolação da fração evapotranspirativa entre os dias com imagens disponíveis para obter a ETA nos dias sem imagens por meio do seu produto com a evapotranspiração de referência. Essa abordagem captou variações climáticas essenciais para a estimativa do balanço hídrico em dias sem imagem. Destaca-se nessa aplicação conjunta sua capacidade de ser realizada sem necessitar de parâmetros específicos da cultura, do microclima ou do relevo, tornando-se interessante para regiões com escassez de dados.   Palavras-chave:  evapotranspiração, momento de irrigar, agriwater.     MAGNONI, P. H. J.; SILVA, C. O. F.; MANZIONE, R. L. REMOTE SENSING APPLIED TO IRRIGATION MANAGEMENT IN AREAS WITH LACK OF DATA: A CASE STUDY IN A CENTRAL PIVOT IN ITATINGA-SP     2 ABSTRACT   Remote sensing-based tools allow the monitoring of water budgets over different spatial and temporal resolutions. Nevertheless, some models require in situ data, preventing their application in areas with a lack of data. To address this challenge, this work presents an approach for irrigation scheduling, based on soil water budget estimation using actual evapotranspiration (ETA) obtained using MSI/SENTINEL-2 multispectral images and data from a public meteorological station. The study area consisted of a central pivot located in the municipality of Itatinga-SP, Brazil. For decision-making of irrigation scheduling, considering a fixed irrigation rate, the evapotranspiration fraction was interpolated between the days with available images to obtain the ETA on the days without images using its product with the reference evapotranspiration. This approach captured essential climate variations for estimating the water budget on non-image days. Noteworthy in this joint application is its suitability to be performed not requiring crop-, microclimate- or relief-specific parameters, making it useful for regions with a lack of data.   Keywords: evapotranspiration, irrigation scheduling, agriwater.


Author(s):  
George Papadavid ◽  
Skevi Perdikou ◽  
Michalakis Hadjimitsis ◽  
Diofantos Hadjimitsis

Abstract Water allocation to crops has always been of great importance in the agricultural process. In this context, and under the current conditions, where Cyprus is facing a severe drought the last five years, the purpose of this study is basically to estimate the needed crop water requirements for supporting irrigation management and monitoring irrigation on a systematic basis for Cyprus using remote sensing techniques. The use of satellite images supported by ground measurements has provided quite accurate results. Intended purpose of this paper is to estimate the Evapotranspiration (ET) of specific crops which is the basis for irrigation scheduling and establish a procedure for monitoring and managing irrigation water over Cyprus, using remotely sensed data from Landsat TM/ ETM+ and a sound methodology used worldwide, the Surface Energy Balance Algorithm for Land (SEBAL).


2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allen L Thompson ◽  
Kenneth A Sudduth ◽  
Joseph C Henggeler ◽  
Earl D Vories ◽  
Andrew D Rackers

Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 1508 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafael González Perea ◽  
Aida Mérida García ◽  
Irene Fernández García ◽  
Emilio Camacho Poyato ◽  
Pilar Montesinos ◽  
...  

Climate change, water scarcity and higher energy requirements and electric tariff compromises the continuity of the irrigated agriculture. Precision agriculture (PA) or renewable energy sources which are based on communication and information technologies and a large amount of data are key to ensuring this economic activity and guaranteeing food security at the global level. Several works which are based on the use of PA and renewable energy sources have been developed in order to optimize different variables of irrigated agriculture such as irrigation scheduling. However, the large amount of technologies and sensors that these models need to be implemented are still far from being easily accessible and usable by farmers. In this way, a middleware called Real time Smart Solar Irrigation Manager (RESSIM) has been developed in this work and implemented in MATLABTM with the aim to provide to farmers a user-friendly tool for the daily making decision process of irrigation scheduling using a smart photovoltaic irrigation management module. RESSIM middleware was successfully tested in a real field during a full irrigation season of olive trees using a real smart photovoltaic irrigation system.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Novelli ◽  
Heide Spiegel ◽  
Taru Sandén ◽  
Francesco Vuolo

<p>The work is based on a previously published study with the aim to further analyse the results obtained. Remote sensing data, crop growth models, and optimization routines constitute a toolset that can be used together to map crop yield over large areas when access to field data is limited. In this study, Leaf Area Index (LAI) data from the Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite were combined with the Environmental Policy Integrated Climate (EPIC) model to estimate crop yield. The experiment was implemented for a winter wheat crop during two growing seasons (2016 and 2017) under four different fertilization management strategies. A number of field measurements were conducted spanning from LAI to biomass and crop yields.<br>LAI showed a good correlation between the Sentinel-2 estimates and the ground measurements using non-destructive method. Better RMSE and RRMSE were obtained in 2017 compared to 2016 (RMSE = 0.44 vs. 0.46) (RRMSE = 17% vs. 19%). In 2016 year, a slightly lower R<sup>2</sup> value was found compared to 2017 (R<sup>2</sup> = 0.72 vs. 0.89). A correlating fit between satellite LAI curves and EPIC modelled LAI curves was also observed. The work shows that the assimilation of remote sensing data into the crop growth model can help to overtake some structural problems of the model.  The assimilation framework has to be tested under different environmental conditions before being applied on a larger scale with limited field data.</p>


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