Estimation of Crop Coefficients Using Satellite Remote Sensing
Publication: Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Volume 135, Issue 5
Abstract
Crop coefficient based estimation of crop evapotranspiration is one of the most commonly used methods for irrigation water management. The standardized FAO56 Penman-Monteith approach for estimating from reference evapotranspiration and tabulated generalized values has been widely adopted worldwide to estimate . In this study, we presented a modified approach toward estimating values from remotely sensed data. The surface energy balance algorithm for land model was used for estimating the spatial distribution of for major agronomic crops during the 2005 growing season in southcentral Nebraska. The alfalfa-based reference evapotranspiration was calculated using data from multiple automatic weather stations with geostatistical analysis. The values were estimated based on and (i.e., ). A land use map was used for sampling and profiling the values from the satellite overpass for the major crops grown in southcentral Nebraska. Finally, a regression model was developed to establish the relationship between the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and the -based crop coefficients for corn, soybeans, sorghum, and alfalfa. We found that the coefficients of variation (CV) for NDVI, as well as for of crops were lower during the midseason as compared to the early and late growing seasons. High CV values during the early growing season can be attributed to differences in planting dates between the fields, whereas high CVs during the late season can be attributed to differences in maturity dates of the crops, variety, and management practices. There was a good relationship between and NDVI for all the crops except alfalfa. Validation of the developed model for irrigated corn showed very promising results. There was a good correlation between the NDVI-estimated and the Bowen ratio energy balance system based with a of 0.74 and a low root mean square difference of 0.21. This approach can be a very useful tool for a large (watershed or regional) scale estimation of evapotranspiration using the crop coefficient and reference evapotranspiration approach.
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Acknowledgments
A contribution of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Agricultural Research Division, Lincoln, Nebraska. We are thankful to High Plain Regional Climate Center (HPRCC), University of Nebraska-Lincoln for providing the AWS data sets used in the study. We also acknowledge the valuable help received from Ian Ratcliffe, CALMIT, University of Nebraska-Lincoln in preparing the land use/land cover map of the study area. The writers are also thankful to Glen Roebke, HPRCC, University of Nebraska-Lincoln for his assistance in visiting the AWS locations. Finally, we express our sincere thanks to the anonymous reviewers whose useful and valuable comments greatly improved this paper. The mention of trade names or commercial products is solely for the information of the reader and does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation for use by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln or the writers.
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Published In
Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Volume 135 • Issue 5 • October 2009
Pages: 597 - 608
Copyright
© 2009 ASCE.
History
Received: Jun 2, 2008
Accepted: Jan 18, 2009
Published online: Sep 15, 2009
Published in print: Oct 2009
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