Team Location: Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama
Colbert County in northwest Alabama is located directly on the Tennessee River. Using the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) Crop Data Layer and a normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) derived from a Landsat 7 image during the 2012 drought event, irrigated cropland can be inferred statistically and partition rain-fed versus irrigated crops. Image Credit: Alabama Agriculture Team, NASA DEVELOP National Program.
Authors:
Casey Calamaio (University of Alabama in Huntsville), Project Lead
Kyle Pennington (University of Alabama in Huntsville)
Sam Ayers (University of Alabama in Huntsville)
Mentors/Advisers:
Jeff Luvall, Ph.D. (NASA, Global Hydrology and Climate Center)
Richard McNider, Ph.D. (University of Alabama in Huntsville/Earth System Science Center)
Cameron Handyside (University of Alabama in Huntsville/Earth System Science Center)
Past/Other Contributors:
Tennessee Valley Authority (David Brewster)
Alabama Department of Environmental Management
University of Alabama in Huntsville/Earth System Science Center
Abstract:
The Southeast is a strategic region for increasing agricultural production through the use of irrigation, in order to protect against impacts of droughts and to prepare for projected decline in Western agricultural output due to climatic changes. Improved hydrological and irrigation demand models will be valuable assets to monitor water usage and watershed health. With Dr. Richard McNider of the Earth System Science Center at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistical Service office in Montgomery, Alabama, the Alabama office of Water Resources, and the Alabama Rivers Alliance as partners, we will work to detect center-pivot irrigated crop circles using multispectral satellite platforms. Imagery from Landsat’s Operational Land Imager (OLI) and Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) åÊand Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) in conjunction with feature-extraction tools and landscape matrices facilitate the identification of these irrigated crop circles. The detection of center-pivot irrigated crop circles will improve agricultural models, for example the Gridded Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (GriDSSAT) Crop Model developed at the National Space Science and Technology Center, by providing more accurate estimates of irrigated cropland acreage and water usage. The methodology developed for such detection will help decision-makers determine the limit to which Alabama watersheds can provide water for irrigation and help decision-makers plan for the future influx of agriculture in the Southeast.