Ricardo Guimaraes Andrade

Large-Scale Water Productivity Assessments with MODIS Images in a Changing Semi-Arid Environment: A Brazilian Case Study

In the Brazilian semi-arid region, the intensification of agriculture results in a change of natural vegetation by irrigated crops. To quantify the contrast between these two ecosystems, the large-scale values of water productivity components were modelled in Petrolina (PE) and Juazeiro (BA) municipalities. The SAFER (Simple Algorithm For Evapotranspiration Retrieving) algorithm was used to acquire evapotranspiration (ET), while the Monteiths radiation model was applied for estimating the biomass production (BIO). Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite images were used together with agro-meteorological data. In Petrolina and Juazeiro, the mean monthly ET values for irrigated crops were 938 and 739 mm∙month−1, with the corresponding ones for natural vegetation of 385 and 194 mm∙month−1.Water productivity (WP) was analysed by the ratio of BIO to ET, defined here as the ratio of the net benefits from the mixed agricultural systems to the amount of water required for producing those benefits. The highest incremental WP values, as a result of the irrigated crops introduction, happened outside the rainy period. More spatial WP uniformity occurred in natural vegetation, when comparing with irrigated crops. The most frequent WP values in Petrolina were between 1.6 and 2.2 kg∙m−3 while in Juazeiro this range was from 1.0 to 1.6 kg∙m−3. The differences between the municipalities can be mainly explained by differences in precipitation and soil water storages conditions, promoting better rainfall use efficiency by the natural vegetation in the first one. The results of the current research are important for appraising the land use change impacts in situations of expanding irrigation areas.

Geotecnologias aplicadas à avaliação de parâmetros biofísicos do Pantanal

The objective of this work was to evaluate surface biophysical parameters of the Pantanal biome, Brazil, by the application of geotechnologies. The Sebal algorithm, Modis imagery, and land use and land cover map were used. The obtained results for NDVI, surface temperature, albedo, daily sensible heat flux, daily net radiation and daily actual evapotranspiration were consistent with literature data for the different land use and land cover classes, and corroborate the analytical and synoptic capacity of Sebal estimates. These results show the potential of geotechnologies in the implementation of models or algorithms developed for the understanding of biophysical process dynamics related to the soil‑plant‑atmosphere interactions in Pantanal.

Variabilidade espacial de parâmetros físico-químicas do solo e biofísicos de superfície em cultivo do sorgo

O conhecimento da variabilidade espacial das propriedades do solo e das culturas e importante para as tomadas de decisao sobre o manejo agricola. Objetivou-se, neste trabalho, avaliar a variabilidade espacial de parâmetros quimicos e fisicos do solo e biofisicos de superficie de area cultivada com sorgo. O estudo foi conduzido em area de 12 ha de um Argissolo Vermelho Amarelo distrofico. A amostragem de solo georreferenciada e a medicao da condutividade eletrica do solo foram realizadas antes do plantio do sorgo. As imagens do satelite Landsat 5 foram utilizadas para calcular os parâmetros biofisicos de superficie. Ferramentas de geoestatistica foram utilizadas para se determinar e modelar a variabilidade espacial dos atributos em estudo em que os resultados mostraram que a densidade de amostragem adotada foi insuficiente para uma caracterizacao adequada da variabilidade espacial de parâmetros do solo. Ocorreu dependencia espacial de grau, moderada a forte para CE e parâmetros biofisicos da superficie da imagem de satelite com alcances variando de 74,4 a 181,1 m; por outro lado, o sensoriamento remoto orbital tambem foi util para o mapeamento da variabilidade espacial da cultura do sorgo e tem grande potencial para aplicacao da Agricultura de Precisao.

Energy balance with Landsat images in irrigated central pivots with corn crop in the São Paulo State, Brazil

The energy balance (EB) components were quantified in a commercial farm with corn crop, irrigated by central pivots, in the Northwestern side of São Paulo state, Southeast Brazil. The SAFER (Simple Algorithm For Evapotranspiration Retrieving) was applied to retrieve the latent heat flux (λE), considering six pivots, covering irrigated areas from 74 to 108 ha. With λE quantified and considering soil heat flux (G) as a fraction of net radiation (Rn), the sensible heat flux (H) was acquired as a residual in the energy balance equation. Seven Landsat satellite images, covering all corn crop stages from 23 April 2010 to 29 August 2010, allowed relating the energy balance components according to the accumulated degree-days (DDac) from the planting to harvest dates. The average Rn values ranging from 5.2 to 7.2 MJ m-2 day-1, represented 30 to 45% of global solar radiation (RG). Considering the variation of the energy balance components along the corn crop growing seasons, the average ranges for λE, H and G were respectively 0.0 to 6.4 MJ m-2 day-1, -1.5 to 6.7 MJ m-2 day-1 and 0.1 to 0.6 MJ m-2 day-1. The fraction of the available energy (Rn - G) used as λE was from 0.0 to 1.3 indicated a good irrigation management, insuring that the water deficit could not be the reason of any yield reduction. Although Rn did not reflected well the crop stages, its partition strongly depended on these stages. λE higher than Rn and the negative H/Rn, happening sometimes along the corn growing seasons, occurred after the vegetative growth and before the harvest times, indicated heat advection from the surrounding areas to the irrigation pivots, which represented an additional energy source for the evaporative process. The models applied here with only the visible and infrared bands of the Landsat sensor are very useful for the energy balance analyses, considering the size of the corn crop irrigation pivots in Southeast Brazil, when subsidizing a rational irrigation water application in corn crop.

Coupling MODIS images and agrometeorological data for agricultural water productivity analyses in the Mato Grosso State, Brazil

Mato Grosso state, Central West Brazil, has been highlighted by the grain production, mainly soybean and corn, as first (November-March) and second (April-August) harvest crops, respectively. For water productivity (WP) analyses, MODIS products together with a net of weather stations were used. Evapotranspiration (ET) and biomass production (BIO) were acquired during the year 2012 and WP was considered as the ratio of BIO to ET. The SAFER (Simple Algorithm For Evapotranspiration Retrieving) for ET and the Monteiths radiation model for BIO were applied together, considering a mask which separated the crops from other surface types. In relation to the first harvest crop ET, BIO and WP values above of those for other surface types, happened only from November to January with incremental values reaching to 1.2 mm day-1; 67 kg ha-1 day-1; and 0.7 kg m-3, respectively; and between March and May for the second harvest crops, with incremental values attaining 0.5 mm day-1; 27 kg ha-1 day-1; and 0.3 kg m-3, respectively. In both cases, during the growing seasons, the highest WP parameters in cropped areas corresponded, in general, to the blooming to grain filling transition. Considering corn crop, which nowadays is increasing in terms of cultivated areas in the Brazilian Central West region, and crop water productivity (CWP) the ratio of yield to the amount of water consumed, the main growing regions North, Southeast and Northeast were analyzed. Southeast presented the highest annual pixel averages for ET, BIO and CWP (1.7 mm day-1, 78 kg ha-1 day-1 and 2.2 kg m-3, respectively); while for Northeast they were the lowest ones (1.2 mm day-1, 52 kg ha-1 dia-1 and 1.9 kg m-3). Throughout a soil moisture indicator, the ratio of precipitation (P) to ET, it was indeed noted that rainfall was enough for a good grain yield, with P/ET lower than 1.00 only outside the crop growing seasons. The combination of MODIS images and weather stations proved to be useful for monitoring vegetation and water parameters, which can contribute to the sustainability of the agro-ecosystems exploration in Mato Grosso state, avoiding water scarcity in the near future.

Estimativa dos componentes do balanço de energia e da evapotranspiração em plantios de eucalipto utilizando o algoritmo sebal e imagem landsat 5 - TM

Variaveis climaticas sao essenciais para a compreensao das condicoes ambientais que influenciam o crescimento e o desenvolvimento vegetal. Nos ultimos anos, as pesquisas que utilizam dados climaticos e tecnicas de sensoriamento remoto em analises espaco-temporais da demanda por agua e energia das plantas tem-se intensificado. O SEBAL (Surface Energy Balance Algorithms for Land) e um dos algoritmos mais destacados em estudos que envolvem estimativas dos fluxos de energia em grandes areas, e pode ser aplicado com poucas medicoes de campo. Este trabalho, realizado no Municipio de Santa Barbara, Minas Gerais, objetivou estimar os componentes do balanco de energia e, por conseguinte, a evapotranspiracao em plantios de eucalipto com aplicacao do algoritmo SEBAL e de imagem do sensor TM do satelite Landsat 5. As estimativas foram realizadas para cena do dia 20/06/2003. Considerando apenas as areas referentes aos plantios de eucalipto (sete anos de idade), foram obtidos valores medios de saldo de radiacao (Rn), fluxo de calor no solo (G), fluxo de calor sensivel (H), fluxo de calor latente (LE) de 420,12 W m-2, 81,80 W m-2, 149,93 W m-2, 188,39 W m-2, respectivamente. Para a evapotranspiracao real horaria (ETrh), o valor medio obtido foi de 0,28 mm h-1. As estimativas mostraram-se condizentes com dados da literatura, no entanto pesquisas com maior controle experimental devem ser realizadas.

Use of MODIS Images to Quantify the Radiation and Energy Balances in the Brazilian Pantanal

MODIS images during the year 2012 were used for modelling of the radiation and energy balance components with the application of the SAFER algorithm (Simple Algorithm for Evapotranspiration Retrieving) in the Brazilian Pantanal area. Pixels from the main sub-regions of Barao de Melgaco (BR), Paiaguas (PA) and Nhecolândia (NH) were extracted in order to process microclimatic comparisons. In general, the net radiation (Rn) relied much more on the global solar radiation (RG) levels than on water conditions and ecosystem types, in accordance with the low Rn standard deviation values. The fraction of the available energy used as latent heat flux (λE) were, on average, 65, 50 and 49% for the BR, PA and NH sub-regions, respectively. Horizontal heat advection, identified by the negative values of sensible heat flux (H), made several pixels with λE values higher than those for Rn in the middle of the year. Taking the evaporative fraction (Ef) as a surface moisture indicator, the Tree-Lined Savanna (TLS) was considered the moister ecosystem class, with 58% of the available energy being used as λE, while the driest one was the modified ecosystem Anthropogenic Changes (AC), presenting a λE/Rn fraction of 0.46. According to the spatial and temporal consistencies, and after comparisons with other previous point and large-scale studies, the SAFER algorithm proved to have sensibility to quantify and compare the large-scale radiation and energy balance components in the different ecosystems of the Brazilian Pantanal. The algorithm is useful for monitoring the energy exchange dynamics among the different terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem types throughout the seasons of the year.

Modelling radiation and energy balances with Landsat 8 images under different thermohydrological conditions in the Brazilian semi-arid region

Four Landsat 8 images were used together with a net of seven agro-meteorological stations for modelling the large-scale radiation and energy balances in the mixed agro-ecosystems inside a semi-arid area composed by irrigated crops and natural vegetation of the Petrolina municipality, Northeast Brazil, along the year 2014. The SAFER algorithm was used to calculate the latent heat flux (λE), net radiation (Rn) was acquired by the Slob equation, ground heat flux (G) was considered as a fraction of Rn and the sensible flux (H) was retrieved by residue in the energy balance equation. For classifying the vegetation into irrigated crops and natural vegetation, the SUREAL algorithm was applied to determine the surface resistance (rs) and threshold values for rs were used to characterize the energy fluxes from these types of vegetated surfaces. Clearly one could see higher λE from irrigated crops than from natural vegetation with some situations of heat horizontal advection increasing its values until 23% times larger than Rn, with respective average λE ranges of 5.7 (64% of Rn) to 7.9 (79% of Rn) and 0.4 (4% of Rn) to 4.3 (37% of Rn) MJ m-2 d-1. The corresponding H mean values were from 1.8 (18% of Rn) to 3.2 (28% of Rn) and 5.4 (60% of Rn) to 9.2 (94% of Rn) MJ m-2 d-1. Average G pixel values ranged from 0.3 to 0.4 MJ m-2 d-1, representing 3 and 4% of Rn for natural vegetation and irrigated crops, respectively.

Técnicas de geoinformação para estimativa do balanço hídrico em eucalipto

The objective of this work was to evaluate the influence of topography on radiation balance and water availability in micro watersheds planted with eucalyptus, and to verify the effects of eucalyptus plantations in regulating water flow. Water balance components were monitored in a micro watershed located in the Eastern region of the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Water balance components were computed punctually and spatially, in hourly time scale, for the useful layer of soil. The results were compared with the values measured from the water depth drained by the watercourse. In months with soil water availability, the average values of real

Estimativa da produtividade da cana-de-açúcar utilizando o Sebal e imagens Landsat

Remote sensing techniques have shown very promising results in the development of more trustworthy and economically viable large-scale agricultural production measurements. The Surface Energy Balance Algorithm for Land (SEBAL) has the advantage of obtaining biophysical parameters using satellite images and few observational data. This work aimed to estimate sugarcane production using the SEBAL algorithm and Landsat 5 TM images. It was performed on sugarcane crops at the Boa Fe farm, located in Conquista, MG, Brazil. The used method showed varying performance in the sugarcane production estimates for each plot, probably due to the influences of the size of the plots and the spatial resolution of the image, and of varieties and crop planting and harvest dates. However, the results indicate the method has potential for application on large areas on which there is limited availability of meteorological data.