An assessment on field-scale spatial variability of sugarcane yield with satellite derived vegetation indices and evapotranspiration products: A case study on sugarcane fields in Mozambique

Due to increasing global population and increasing food demand, crop yield needs to be improved to forestall potential food shortages. To achieve optimal crop yield, irrigation is applied to replace water losses due to evapotranspiration (ET). Information on ET should be applied to optimize water allocations and water use. In this study, the...

Breakpoint detection through neural nets: A feasibility study

A variety of statistical methods are available to detect sudden changes, or breakpoints, in time series when used as multi-temporal change detection technique. However, these methods are unreliable in the presence of noise. Neural nets might detect breakpoints better. These deep learning models are able to generalize and optimize well, even in...

Droughts and Decisions: Pastoralism, Decision Junctures and Rain Forecasting

The livelihood of the Maasai pastoral communities in Longido District of Northern Tanzania are impacted by droughts regularly, with expectations of increasing variability in rainfall patterns the coming years due to climate change. The goal of this research is to explore if weather forecast and remote sensing data can be tailored to existing...

Monitoring vegetation dynamics using vegetation optical depth retrieved from L-band single-incidence angle backscatter observations: A field-based study over corn

Vegetation water content (VWC) is an important parameter for sustainable land and water management. In agriculture, VWC can be used to monitor drought and assess crop productivity. Being able to monitor VWC is important to reduce agricultural vulnerability and scientifically manage agricultural water use. Due to the dense in-situ networks are...

Assessment of surface melt with (In)SAR on Blue Ice Areas at the King Baudouin Ice Shelf

Blue ice areas, are areas in Antarctica where, either due to local heat sources (areas with lower albedo and thus more absorption of shortwave radiation - i.e. Nunataks) or high windspeed, all the snow is melted or eroded away and the underlying (blue) ice is visible. This occurs often around the grounding line between the ice sheet and ice...

Towards a prediction of the intensity of a harmattan season

The harmattan is a seasonal phenomena in West Africa. It is a dry and warm wind which is able to transport large dust plumes. This study aims to get insight in possible triggers that may have influence on the harmattan season itself.To find a seasonal predictor which can predict the intensity of the next harmattan season, historical data is...

Capturing the Plant-Water Dynamics of Corn: A study on the stomatal conductance and the leaf water potential of corn during the growing season

This study aims to characterize the variation in stomatal conductance and leaf water potential of corn plant in height over time on a diurnal time-scale and on a seasonal time-scale, under well-watered and water stressed conditions.<br/>An additional objective was the development of a protocol for plant-water relation measurements in radar...

Impact of Soil Moisture and Vegetation Water Content on Backscatter Simulated by WCM at Different Radar Parameters in Maize Field

This paper analysis the effects of soil moisture and vegetation water content (VWC) on total backscattering (σ_tot^0) simulated by water cloud model (WCM) throughout a growth cycle of maize at different frequencies, polarization modes, and incidence angles. Firstly, the bare soil backscatter (σ_soil^0) was simulated by Integral Equation Method ...

Development of a Deep Learning Surrogate Model to Simulate MetOp ASCAT Observations with Land Surface Parameters

In this study, deep neural networks are employed to act as a surrogate model between the Meteo France land surface model and Advanced SCATterometer (ASCAT) satellite observations. This provides a measurement operator for the assimilation of ASCAT satellite derivations into this model. Currently, TU Wien uses ASCAT measurements to retrieve soil...

Unveiling inundations: Inundation mapping in a dynamic, data-scarce environment using Ka-band passive microwave radiometry. Ouémé Delta, Benin

A large part of the world population lives in deltas or in the vicinity of a river which provides many advantages, such as access to transportation, food and drinking water. Inundating floodplains are a natural and recurring phenomenon which is for instance a way to irrigate soils, but drawbacks occur when people or infrastructure are harmed by ...

Monitoring land restoration projects of Justdiggit in Kenya, using downscaled passive microwave remote sensing products of VanderSat

The growing world population and climate change have resulted in increasing stress on the Earth’s ecosystems. Especially the overexploitation of agricultural land, overgrazing and extreme droughts have resulted in land degradation, often called desertification. This leads to the disappearing of natural vegetation, the loss of soil quality, lower...

Vegetation Optical Depth: its potential as an agricultural drought indicator: A case study on pepper fields in Indonesia

Droughts are a serious threat to the planet. Especially in agriculture, the consequences are devastating leading to reduced yields or crop failure with further implications for economics, politics and society. Being able to monitor and predict agricultural droughts is an important step to reduce agricultural vulnerability and secure livelihoods....

Root-zone storage and snow cover effects: A catchment study on the dynamic behaviour of the root-zone moisture capacity related to changing snow cover patterns

Extreme weather events seem to happen more often nowadays. One of these extreme events was the California Drought between 2012 and 2016. The socioeconomic and environmental impacts of this drought were enormous:<br/>thousands square kilometers of agricultural land fallowed, thousands of lost jobs, salinization problems and forest fires. As a...

Mapping of farmer-led irrigated agriculture with remote sensing: A case study in Central Mozambique

In Manica Province in Central Mozambique, agricultural activities consist for a significant part of farmer-led irrigated agriculture. These farmers construct and maintain their own irrigation systems with local inputs and have a commercial intent. Organization is often individual and farmers receive zero to minimal external support from donors,...

The impact of salinity intrusion on rice productivity: Soc Trang, Mekong Delta

More than half of Vietnam's national rice production is produced in the Mekong Delta. Many hectares of rice were damaged due to extensive salinity intrusion during the dry season of 2016. The impact of salinity intrusion on rice production is studied by (1) mapping the impact using remote sensing data (MODIS NDVI time-series) and (2)...

Distributed Temperature Sensing for landfill monitoring and research

Evaluation of Distributed Temperature Sensing to monitor temperatures within a landfill on a field scale.

Efficient Water Use in Agriculture: Leading perceptions of key actors in research, policy and practice evaluated at field scale in Tadla basin Morocco and Lower Limpopo basin Mozambique

Expected increase of world wide food demand requires improvement of efficient water use in agriculture in arid and semi-arid regions. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, the Directorate-General for International Cooperation (DGIS) of the Netherlands and many more key actors at the level of policy, research and...