California Agriculture

Produces about half of all U.S.-grown fruits, nuts and vegetables.

$36.6 Billion Industry (2007), 400 different commercial crops.
9.6 million acres of irrigated agriculture uses ~34 million acre-
feet of water, out of 43 million acre-feet diverted from surface
waters or pumped from groundwater.

Almonds: CA’s 5th most valuable crop

$2,127,375,000

Cotton lint: 14th most valuable crop

$599,352,000
500,000 acres in
almond production
(99% of almonds
U.S.).

The most widely planted tree crop in California

 Pistachio Orchards, Paramount Farms, Lost Hills
And at AZCAL Farms, Lemoore,
San Joaquin Valley, California

Significant Water can be Saved by Timing Irrigation to Key Phenological

Stages (Goldhamer and Beedle, 2004; Goldhamer 2005)
•  California is 2nd largest Cotton Producing State
•  Cotton is One of Top 3 Water Demanding Crops
“ARID”
Eto = 9.30 in.
 Water Shortage Drought impacts from
water shortages are
most severe in the
west side of the San
Joaquin Valley.

Can RS contribute to
more efficient
Data Source: California Department of Water Resources
Revised June 18, 2009 irrigation methods?
The energy balance equation is used to Estimate ET:

Where:
λE is the energy needed to change the phase of water from liquid to gas,
Rn is the net radiation,
G is the soil heat flux and
H is the sensible heat flux.
 SARP
AG
Project:
Spa0ally
Es0mate

Evapotranspira0on
Using
Remote
Sensing
Data


Evapotranspiration (ET) is the loss of water from the soil by the

process of evaporation and from plant surfaces by
transpiration to the atmosphere
 What do you need to measure?

SW and LW downward energy from sun and atmosphere

SW and LW energy upward from the earth

What is the driving gradient? The water

vapor pressure gradient between leaf
& bulk air.

Measure the latent heat of vaporization

from the leaf and air temperature and
the Relative Humidity
Controls on water loss from leaves

Stoma w/ cavity
Reflectance vs. Water Content & Water Potential

Stimpson et al., RSE 2005

Factors Affecting Evapotranspiration
(latent heat exchange)
 Factors Affecting Evapotranspiration

radia%on,
air
temperature,
vapor
pressure

deficit,
wind
speed

Reference ET: Maximum,
given weather conditions

Promote
Be6er
Water
Management
Through
Knowledge
of

Evapotranspira%on

 Factors Affecting Evapotranspiration

crop type & variety,

leaf area,
developmental stage,
crop height,
crop roughness,
leaf size and orientation,
EMR reflection,
ground cover

crop rooting characteristics

soil properties, soil albedo
 Paramount Farms Almond Orchards, Lost Hills, San Joaquin
Valley, CA

Plant
measurements
at
the
field
Site:

Water:
Ψleaf
,
fresh
and
dry
weight

LAI:
fisheye
cameras
and
LiCOR
PCA



Spectrometer:
reflectance
400‐2500nm

Thermal
IR:
TIR
guns

Loca%on:
GPS

Image
data:

MASTER

on
two
days
Wednesday
and
Friday


 NDVI Patterns Are Only Partially Correlated with Other Leaf
Biophysical Properties High
NDVI NDWI

1 Km
1 Km 1 Km
Irrigated Almond and Pistachio Low
Orchards, San Joaquin Valley, CA
July, 2009, Airborne MASTER
 Relative Drought Index
Temperature, K 340 High
(studied orchards)

1 Km 305 1 Km Low
Normalized by NDVI, blocks can have different temperatures but
nearly the same water stress, or same temperatures and different
water stress. Airborne MASTER, July 2009
 Correlations Among NDVI, NDWI, LST, and
Drought Index, Almond and Pistachio Orchards,
San Joaquin Valley July, 2009

A decrease in moisture flux modifies the surface energy balance, increasing the
ratio of sensible heat flux to latent heat flux and therefore warming the air near the
surface. (IPCC 2007, WGI: 2.5.8 Effects of Carbon Dioxide Changes on Climate via
Plant Physiology: ‘Physiological Forcing’).
 Differential water treatments cotton field near
Phoenix , Arizona Measured with TIR data

Surface temperature image, 28 July 1999, 12:30 derived from a

scanning infrared thermomter mounted on a linear move irrigation
system (see Barnes et al., 2000).
~ 130 Weather Stations in California Measure the
Variables to Calculate Penman-Monteith Equation
Every Hour

Kc factor scales actual ETc down from ETo (maximum ET)

Ks can be added as a second factor to account for soil, etc.
California Irrigation Management Information
System (CIMIS)

Stratford #15

CIMIS weather stations are located throughout California, primarily in agricultural

areas. Established in late 1970s to improve irrigation efficiency by establishing the
maximum water ET on a daily basis.
The relationship between Reference Evapotranspiration
(ETo) and standard Crop Evapotranspiration (ETc)
 Modifying ETo for crop type and developmental stage

Almonds Kc 105%
Cotton Kc 95%

Initial stage - planting until 10% ground cover.

Crop development stage - 10% to effective groundcover
(around 70-80%).
Mid-season stage - 70-80% groundcover to the start of maturity.
Late season stage - the start of maturity until harvest.
California Spatial CIMIS Project: Statewide Daily
ETo Estimates at 2km x 2km Resolution
Interpolated
Weather

Sta0on
Data
&
GOES

Satellite
Data

Potential
RH Evapotranspiration
NetRadiation
Radiation
Wind
Wind Speed

Temperature
Evapotranspiration
Model
 ASCE Penman-Monteith Equation

•  Rn
=
net
radia0on
(MJ
m‐2
day‐1)

•  G
=
soil
heat
flux
density
(MJ
m‐2
day‐1)
=
0

•  T
=
mean
daily
air
temperature
(°C)

•  u2
=
mean
daily
wind
speed
at
2‐meter
height
(m
s‐1)

•  es
=
mean
satura0on
vapor
pressure
(kPa)

•  ea
=
mean
actual
vapor
pressure
(kPa)

•  Δ
=
slope
of
the
vapor
pressure‐temperature
curve
(kPa
°C‐1)

•  γ
=
psychrometric
constant
(kPa
°C‐1)

Spatial interpolation used to extrapolate estimates
from weather station data.
 Combination of interpolation methods


Maximum temperature Relative Humidity

Average DayMet with elevation

& Temp Splines from stations RH with DayMet & Splines
 Solar Insolation

Top of Atmosphere
Irradiance
 Insolation Calculation
•  GOES Visible Image Every Half Hour,Vi
•  Minimum Pixel Brightness over last 2 weeks
is albedo, pi
•  Vi-pi is measure of cloudiness , Ki (normalize
to bright cloud pixels)
•  Model each hour’s clear sky insolation,Gi
•  Calculation of Insolation Map (G)
– ΣKiGi = G
 K – factor (Clear-sky Index)

2003-04-30 (Clear) 2003-05-01 (Cloudy)

 Net Radiation

2003-04-30 (Clear) 2003-05-01 (Cloudy)

Net Radiation
Daily Spatial CIMIS ETo from:
http://wwwcimis.water.ca.gov/cimis/
frontMapView.do?urlImg=eto

June 20, 2010

 Paramount Farms Almond Orchards, Lost Hills,
Southern San Joaquin Valley, CA

6 replicates of 4 nitrogen and water treatments,

studied for the past 9 years
Cotton Fields, Lemoore, CA
 Cotton Fields:
Fractional cover type
Red = dry crop residues
Green = live green canopy
Blue = bare soil

Two varieties of cotton

3 year rotation: onions, tomatoes, wheat
Fallow fields
Pistachio Orchards, Paramount Farms, Lost Hills
And at AZCAL Farms, Lemoore,
San Joaquin Valley, California
MASTER
Spectral
Band
Posi%ons
(Vis‐MWIR)

0.01
to
6
μm



MASTER
Spectral
Band
Posi%ons
(Thermal
IR)


Band
Centers
vs.
Atmospheric
Features

Measure at canopy and pixel scale:

Leaf area per unit of ground area

% bare soil
Temperatures of soil and canopy

Other useful information:

Reflectance of typical soil, leaves

Leaf water content
Leaf or stem water potential
Canopy resistance (to water loss)
Canopy height
soil moisture
Crop developmental stage
% of canopy green vs. dry
Pistachio Orchard Leaf Spectra
Measure Leaf Area Index

LiCOR-PCA
Leaf or shoot water content = (Fresh weight – dry weight )/ dry
weight
Rhododendron

Quercus

Mollino

Pinus

Evolution of (a) EWT and dry matter during 1997 (b) FMC for the same period.
Ceccato et al. 2001 Remote Sensing of Environment
Measuring Plant Water Potential, an Indicator of
Plant Stress
• Spectrometer and camera on cherry-
picker bucket.
 Spectralon: Approved NIST Standard

99% White Reflecting Panels Gray panels of known reflectance

Rare Earths calibrate wavelength positions

 Field
Spectrometry

•  Quan0ta0ve
measurement
of

radiance,
irradiance,
or


reflectance
in
the
field.


•  obtain
more
precise
image

analysis
and
interpreta0on


•  perform
feasibility
studies
to

understand
how/if
materials
can

be
detected
using
remote
sensing


•  make
material
iden0fica0ons
in

the
field

Bare Soil Reflectance Provides a Spectrum for
ENVI Calibration Correction

Collect Location: Spatial resolution of your imagery

will determine the positional accuracy necessary.
 Measuring the Thermal Infrared Temperature

To Quantify the Temperature you need

to know the Emissivity

Eλ = εσT4
Where:

Calibrate Brightness E λ = Energy Radiated

Temperature to Kinetic
Temperature
Brightness Temperature
ε emissivity
σ Stefan-Boltzmann Constant
5.6696 x 10-8 Wm-2deg-4
 Image Calibration Approach
Top of Atmosphere Radiance

2nd stage calibration with Noise Reduction Using Field

field data Spectra

Instrument Calibration to
Radiance

Radiative Transfer Atmospheric

calibration (ACORN, FLAASH)

Reflectance calibrated spectrum Spectrum derived from field data

Questions?