Earth Observation-Based Operational Estimation of Soil Moisture and Evapotranspiration for Agricultural Crops in Support of Sustainable Water Management

George P. Petropoulos, Prashant K. Srivastava, Maria Piles and Simon Pearson
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George P. Petropoulos: Department of Geography and Earth Sciences, University of Aberystwyth, Wales SY23 2DB, UK
Prashant K. Srivastava: Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221005, India
Maria Piles: Image Processing Lab (IPL), Universitat de València, 46980 València, Spain
Simon Pearson: Lincoln Institute for Agri-Food Technology, The University of Lincoln, Lincoln LN6 7TS, UK

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 1, 1-20

Abstract: Global information on the spatio-temporal variation of parameters driving the Earth’s terrestrial water and energy cycles, such as evapotranspiration (ET) rates and surface soil moisture (SSM), is of key significance. The water and energy cycles underpin global food and water security and need to be fully understood as the climate changes. In the last few decades, Earth Observation (EO) technology has played an increasingly important role in determining both ET and SSM. This paper reviews the state of the art in the use specifically of operational EO of both ET and SSM estimates. We discuss the key technical and operational considerations to derive accurate estimates of those parameters from space. The review suggests significant progress has been made in the recent years in retrieving ET and SSM operationally; yet, further work is required to optimize parameter accuracy and to improve the operational capability of services developed using EO data. Emerging applications on which ET/SSM operational products may be included in the context specifically in relation to agriculture are also highlighted; the operational use of those operational products in such applications remains to be seen.

Keywords: soil surface moisture; evapotranspiration; operational products; emerging applications; agriculture (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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