Articles
Monitoring the water status of almond orchards using the CWSI in southeastern Spain – a multi-scale analysis
Article number
1406_19
Pages
129 – 136
Language
English
Abstract
The growing extension of irrigated almond orchards in water scarcity areas of southeastern Spain, boosts the necessity for a more operational and accurate monitoring of the crop water status to maximize irrigation efficiency.
In this work, the widely used crop water stress index (CWSI) is tested as an indicator to monitor water stress in almond trees.
A multi-scale analysis is conducted using local field measurements, unmanned aerial system (UAS) mapping and satellite imagery as inputs.
This study focuses on the partial results obtained in the 2020 campaign, in the framework of a 3-year experiment comprising several almond fields spread across the semiarid province of Albacete, southeastern Spain.
Different formulations of the CWSI were tested, in a combination of ground canopy temperature (Tc) measurements, UAS estimates of plant transpiration, and eddy-covariance measurements of actual evapotranspiration (ETa), in a search for the most convenient methodology depending on the scale of interest.
A good agreement was obtained between the CWSI estimates at different scales and concurrent water potential measurements throughout the season in all fields.
Results in this work reinforce the potential of both UAS measurements of Tc and estimates of plant transpiration, to detect and discriminate intra-parcel water stress in almond trees.
The spatio-temporal limitation of the orbiting thermal infrared sensors to measure tree canopy temperature can be faced by using the total ETa as an input, combined to potential evapotranspiration estimates.
This will allow us to spatialize CWSI estimates and operationally monitor water stress at larger scales using the potential of remote sensing techniques.
In this work, the widely used crop water stress index (CWSI) is tested as an indicator to monitor water stress in almond trees.
A multi-scale analysis is conducted using local field measurements, unmanned aerial system (UAS) mapping and satellite imagery as inputs.
This study focuses on the partial results obtained in the 2020 campaign, in the framework of a 3-year experiment comprising several almond fields spread across the semiarid province of Albacete, southeastern Spain.
Different formulations of the CWSI were tested, in a combination of ground canopy temperature (Tc) measurements, UAS estimates of plant transpiration, and eddy-covariance measurements of actual evapotranspiration (ETa), in a search for the most convenient methodology depending on the scale of interest.
A good agreement was obtained between the CWSI estimates at different scales and concurrent water potential measurements throughout the season in all fields.
Results in this work reinforce the potential of both UAS measurements of Tc and estimates of plant transpiration, to detect and discriminate intra-parcel water stress in almond trees.
The spatio-temporal limitation of the orbiting thermal infrared sensors to measure tree canopy temperature can be faced by using the total ETa as an input, combined to potential evapotranspiration estimates.
This will allow us to spatialize CWSI estimates and operationally monitor water stress at larger scales using the potential of remote sensing techniques.
Authors
J.M. Sánchez, R. López-Urrea, J. González-Piqueras, F. Montoya, A. Rodríguez, F. Valentín, L.L. Simón, J.M. Galve
Keywords
canopy temperature, evapotranspiration, eddy-covariance, surface energy balance, remote sensing, UAS
Groups involved
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