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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #306430
Title: Application of thermal-based two-source energy balance model for estimating vineyard evapotranspiration at field and regional scales

Author
item Kustas, William - Bill
item Anderson, Martha
item Semmens, Kathryn
item Prueger, John
item McKee, Lynn
item Alfieri, Joseph
item XIA, TING - Tsinghua University
item Gao, Feng
item HAIN, C. - University Of Maryland
item GELI, H. - Utah State University
item SANCHEZ, L. - E & J Gallo Winery
item MENDEZ-COSTABEL, M. - E & J Gallo Winery

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/8/2014
Publication Date: 9/22/2014
Citation: Kustas, W.P., Anderson, M.C., Semmens, K.A., Prueger, J.H., Mckee, L.G., Alfieri, J.G., Xia, T., Gao, F.N., Hain, C., Geli, H., Sanchez, L., Mendez-Costabel, M. 2014. Application of thermal-based two-source energy balance model for estimating vineyard evapotranspiration at field and regional scales [abstract]. 4th International Symposium: Recent Advances in Quantitative Remote Sensing Program and Abstract Book. p. 106.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Due to limited water availability in much of California, particularly in the Central Valley region where one-third of the produce consumed in the United States is grown, improvements in water and irrigation management practices are greatly needed. This, in turn, requires the development of tools and technologies for monitoring water use at both the field and regional scale. California growers devote significant acreage to the cultivation of orchard crops and vineyards. These crop types share a unique canopy structure and row spacing. The architecture of wine-grape vineyards is characterized by widely spaced rows (~4 m) and tall plants (~2 m) with most of the biomass concentrated in the upper one-third to one-half of the plant. This wide row spacing and canopy architecture facilitates sunlight interception, air flow, and field operations and results in two distinct management zones: the vines and the inter-row. Often, the treatment of these two management zones is further complicated by a cover crop grown in the inter-row. A combined remote sensing and a land surface model that captures the micro and macro-scale exchanges between the vine, inter-row and atmospheric boundary layer is needed to operationally monitor vineyard water use and both vine and inter-row plant stress. A remote-sensing-based modeling system has been developed with these capabilities and is called the Atmospheric Land EXchange Inverse (ALEXI) model. Additionally, a Disaggregation module (DisALEXI) using high resolution thermal remote sensing data has also been developed. The ALEXI/DisALEXI land surface scheme is based on the Two-Source Energy Balance (TSEB) formulation that addresses the key factors affecting the convective and radiative exchange within the soil/substrate–plant canopy–atmosphere system. Both the TSEB and ALEXI/DisALEXI modeling systems have been applied and tested over a wide variety of landscapes and found to be robust. An experiment was conducted at vineyard sites in California to collect ground validation data under the full range of environmental conditions and differing vine phenological stages. These data included in-situ measurements of the water and energy fluxes, meteorological conditions, soil moisture, and biophysical properties along with high resolution aircraft imagery for determining inter-row and vine cover fractions and thermal temperatures. A description of the field experiment and initial results applying both the TSEB with local/aircraft remote sensing data and ALEXI/DisALEXI with satellite observations will be presented. The capability of the TSEB scheme to quantify vine plant and inter-row water and energy fluxes for the unique vineyard architecture will also be discussed.