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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory » Research » Research Project #450133

Research Project: Monitoring Rangeland and Cropland Health and Productivity Using Remote Sensing

Location: Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory

Project Number: 8042-13610-030-103-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Aug 1, 2026
End Date: Nov 30, 2027

Objective:
The researcher will integrate existing evapotranspiration (ET), leaf area index (LAI), and crop phenology remote sensing products into toolkits aimed at improved rangeland and cropland management across diverse ecosystems. The work will focus on both retrospective validation and real-time production of remotely sensed ET, LAI, and phenology data, using these metrics to assess ecosystem condition, productivity, and water use under various grazing and crop management practices.

Approach:
The researcher will conduct the following tasks to achieve the project objectives: develop datastreams integrating existing remotely sensed ET, LAI, and phenology time series over target agroecosystems in U.S. range- and croplands; assess and document ET and LAI responses to range- and cropland management; assist in integrating these datastreams into existing grazing and irrigation decision support toolkits; prepare manuscript on the findings.