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 Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory: Beltsville, MD
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ARS Home Northeast Area Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) Beltsville Agricultural Research Center Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory Research





- Crow, Wade
- Water Availability and Watershed Management (211)
- Sustainable Agricultural Systems Research (216)

Research Project: **Location:
                            Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory** Project Number: 8042-13610-030-084-I
                        
                        Project Type: Interagency Reimbursable Agreement Start Date: Oct 1, 2023
                        
                        End Date: Sep 30, 2024 **Objective:**
                        
                        High-resolution estimates of root-zone soil moisture are necessary to optimize irrigation scheduling in nut orchards and vineyards. This proposal will develop and apply a new data assimilation system that ingests high-resolution radar and thermal-infrared remote sensing observations and converts them into high-quality estimates of 30-cm, root-zone (surface to one meter) soil moisture. The system will be run in near-real-time for two 100 square km domains in the Central Valley of California during the 2022 and 2023 growing seasons. The resulting soil moisture estimates will be delivered in-season to cooperating almond and grape growers. **Approach:**
                        
                        There are three possible ways to estimate high-resolution, root-zone soil moisture continuously over agricultural landscapes: 1) soil-water-balance modelling, 2) microwave remote sensing, and 3) thermal-infrared remote sensing. On their own, none of these methods can meet the accuracy, timeliness, and resolution requirements for effective irrigation management in vineyards and nut orchards. Our approach will be based on the creation of a land-data assimilation approach that integrates all three of these existing approaches to produce a single, optimized estimate of root-zone soil moisture that – for the first time – meets key user requirements within the almond orchard and vineyard industries. Once developed, the approach will be run operationally within the Central Valley of California for the 2022 and 2023 growing seasons.


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