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Water infiltration rate (WIR) into the soil profile was investigated through a comprehensive study harnessing spectral information of the soil surface. As soil spectroscopy provides invaluable information on soil attributes, and as WIR is a soil surface-dependent property, field spectroscopy may model WIR better than traditional laboratory spectral measurements. This is because sampling for the latter disrupts the soil-surface status. A field soil spectral library (FSSL), consisting of 114 samples with different textures from six different sites over the Mediterranean basin, combined with traditional laboratory spectral measurements, was created. Next, partial least squares regression analysis was conducted on the spectral and WIR data in different soil texture groups, showing better performance of the field spectral observations compared to traditional laboratory spectroscopy. Moreover, several quantitative spectral properties were lost due to the sampling procedure, and separating the samples according to texture gave higher accuracies. Although the visible near-infrared–shortwave infrared (VNIR–SWIR) spectral region provided better accuracy, we resampled the spectral data to the resolution of a Cubert hyperspectral sensor (VNIR). This hyperspectral sensor was then assembled on an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to apply one selected spectral-based model to the UAV data and map the WIR in a semi-vegetated area within the Alento catchment, Italy. Comprehensive spectral and WIR ground-truth measurements were carried out simultaneously with the UAV–Cubert sensor flight. The results were satisfactorily validated on the ground using field samples, followed by a spatial uncertainty analysis, concluding that the UAV with hyperspectral remote sensing can be used to map soil surface-related soil properties.
Nicolas Francos; Nunzio Romano; Paolo Nasta; Yijian Zeng; Brigitta Szabó; Salvatore Manfreda; Giuseppe Ciraolo; János Mészáros; Ruodan Zhuang; Bob Su; Eyal Ben-Dor. Mapping Water Infiltration Rate Using Ground and UAV Hyperspectral Data: A Case Study of Alento, Italy. Remote Sensing 2021, 13, 2606 .
AMA StyleNicolas Francos, Nunzio Romano, Paolo Nasta, Yijian Zeng, Brigitta Szabó, Salvatore Manfreda, Giuseppe Ciraolo, János Mészáros, Ruodan Zhuang, Bob Su, Eyal Ben-Dor. Mapping Water Infiltration Rate Using Ground and UAV Hyperspectral Data: A Case Study of Alento, Italy. Remote Sensing. 2021; 13 (13):2606.
Chicago/Turabian StyleNicolas Francos; Nunzio Romano; Paolo Nasta; Yijian Zeng; Brigitta Szabó; Salvatore Manfreda; Giuseppe Ciraolo; János Mészáros; Ruodan Zhuang; Bob Su; Eyal Ben-Dor. 2021. "Mapping Water Infiltration Rate Using Ground and UAV Hyperspectral Data: A Case Study of Alento, Italy." Remote Sensing 13, no. 13: 2606.
Design strategies that enhance modern irrigation practices, reduce energy consumption, and improve water use efficiency and crop yields are fundamental for sustainability. Although microirrigation is currently a widely applied method, center-pivot irrigation systems have become very popular on large farms, thanks to their automation, wide-coverage, and reliability. Different design procedures have been proposed, even though some aspects have not been solved yet. This paper presents a simple design procedure for center-pivot systems using a gradually decreasing sprinkler spacing along with a pivot lateral, which makes it possible to set favorable and uniformly distributed water application rates. The sprinkler spacing distribution along the radial direction is derived by considering just one dimensionless group accounting for the geometric and hydraulic input parameters. According to this outcome, the results showed that the suggested procedure made it possible to select the sprinkler characteristics and the pipe diameter based on the desired input parameters, i.e., the uniform water application rate and the lateral length. For assigned input parameters, the lateral length is delimited by a threshold value, indicating that lateral lengths longer than that threshold value require the modifications of a sprinkler flow rate or pipe diameter. Finally, applications based on the proposed hydraulic design procedure were performed and discussed for two different cases.
Giorgio Baiamonte; Giuseppe Provenzano; Massimo Iovino; Mustafa Elfahl. Hydraulic Design of the Center-Pivot Irrigation System for Gradually Decreasing Sprinkler Spacing. Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering 2021, 147, 04021027 .
AMA StyleGiorgio Baiamonte, Giuseppe Provenzano, Massimo Iovino, Mustafa Elfahl. Hydraulic Design of the Center-Pivot Irrigation System for Gradually Decreasing Sprinkler Spacing. Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering. 2021; 147 (7):04021027.
Chicago/Turabian StyleGiorgio Baiamonte; Giuseppe Provenzano; Massimo Iovino; Mustafa Elfahl. 2021. "Hydraulic Design of the Center-Pivot Irrigation System for Gradually Decreasing Sprinkler Spacing." Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering 147, no. 7: 04021027.
Antonio Paruta; Giuseppe Ciraolo; Fulvio Capodici; Salvatore Manfreda; Silvano Fortunato Dal Sasso; Ruodan Zhuang; Nunzio Romano; Paolo Nasta; Eyal Ben-Dor; Nicolas Francos; Yijian Zeng; Antonino Maltese. A Geostatistical Approach to Map Near-Surface Soil Moisture Through Hyperspatial Resolution Thermal Inertia. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing 2021, 59, 5352 -5369.
AMA StyleAntonio Paruta, Giuseppe Ciraolo, Fulvio Capodici, Salvatore Manfreda, Silvano Fortunato Dal Sasso, Ruodan Zhuang, Nunzio Romano, Paolo Nasta, Eyal Ben-Dor, Nicolas Francos, Yijian Zeng, Antonino Maltese. A Geostatistical Approach to Map Near-Surface Soil Moisture Through Hyperspatial Resolution Thermal Inertia. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing. 2021; 59 (6):5352-5369.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAntonio Paruta; Giuseppe Ciraolo; Fulvio Capodici; Salvatore Manfreda; Silvano Fortunato Dal Sasso; Ruodan Zhuang; Nunzio Romano; Paolo Nasta; Eyal Ben-Dor; Nicolas Francos; Yijian Zeng; Antonino Maltese. 2021. "A Geostatistical Approach to Map Near-Surface Soil Moisture Through Hyperspatial Resolution Thermal Inertia." IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing 59, no. 6: 5352-5369.
Remote Sensing (RS) information has progressively found, in recent years, more and more applications in hydrological modelling as a valuable tool for easy and frequent collection of geophysical data. However, this kind of data should be handled carefully, minding its characteristics, spatial resolution and the heterogeneity of the target area.
In this work, a scale analysis on evapotranspiration estimates over heterogeneous crops is performed combining a distributed energy-water balance model (FEST-EWB) and high-resolution remotely-sensed Land Surface Temperature (LST) and vegetation data.
The FEST-EWB model is calibrated on measured LST, based on a procedure where every single pixel is modified independently one from the other; hence in each pixel of the analysed domain the minimum of the pixel difference between modelled RET and satellite observed LST is searched over the period of calibration.
The case study is a Sicilian vineyard, with test dates in the summer of 2008. Meteorological and energy fluxes data are available from an eddy-covariance station, while LST and vegetation data are obtained from low-altitude flights at the high resolution of 1.7 metres.
After a preliminary calibration on LST data and validation on energy fluxes, the scale analysis is performed in two ways: model input aggregation and model output aggregation. Four coarser scales are selected in reference to some common satellite products resolution: 10.2 m (in reference to Sentinel’s 10 m), 30.6 m (Landsat, 30 m), 244.8 m (MODIS visible, 250 m) and 734.4 m (MODIS, 1000 m). First, modelled surface temperature and evapotranspiration are aggregated to each scale by progressive averaging. Then, model inputs are upscaled to the same spatial resolutions and the model is calibrated anew, obtaining independent results directly at the target scale.
The results of the two procedures are found to be quite similar, testifying to the capacity of the model to provide accurate products for a heterogeneous area even at low resolutions. The robustness of the analysis is strengthened by a further comparison with two well-established energy-balance algorithms: the one source Surface Energy Balance Algorithm for Land (SEBAL) and the Two-Source Energy Balance (TSEB) model.
Nicola Paciolla; Chiara Corbari; Giuseppe Ciraolo; Antonino Maltese; Marco Mancini. Scale analysis of evapotranspiration estimates from an energy-water balance model and remotely sensed LST. 2021, 1 .
AMA StyleNicola Paciolla, Chiara Corbari, Giuseppe Ciraolo, Antonino Maltese, Marco Mancini. Scale analysis of evapotranspiration estimates from an energy-water balance model and remotely sensed LST. . 2021; ():1.
Chicago/Turabian StyleNicola Paciolla; Chiara Corbari; Giuseppe Ciraolo; Antonino Maltese; Marco Mancini. 2021. "Scale analysis of evapotranspiration estimates from an energy-water balance model and remotely sensed LST." , no. : 1.
For annual cropping systems sensitive to water stress, such as citrus, efficient water management can allow facing their large water consumption and enhancing crop sustainability. However, to apply water-saving strategies it is necessary to monitoring soil and/or plant water status. In the last decade, a wide number of sensors providing indirect measurements of volumetric soil water content based on soil physical properties, such as dielectric permittivity or matric potential, have been developed. Among the sensors using the frequency domain reflectometry technique, the “drill and drop” (Sentek, Inc., Stepney, Australia) multi-sensor probes allow continuous acquisition of soil moisture dynamic every 10 cm starting from the soil surface; these data hide important information on root water uptake and actual crop evapotranspiration.
The objective of the paper was to analyze the temporal dynamics of soil water content profiles detected with multi-sensor probes during three years of field observations (July 2017- August 2020) in a citrus orchard, to estimate root water uptake and crop transpiration by three methodologies. Simultaneous measurements of sap fluxes and climate variables also allowed estimating the basal crop coefficient, Kcb, often considered for estimating crop water requirement.
The experiments were carried out in a 30 years-old citrus orchard (C. reticulata Blanco cv. Tardivo di Ciaculli) with trees spaced 5.0x5.0 m. The field is irrigated with a subsurface drip system installed in 2018, with two lateral pipes per plant row at 30 depth and distance of 1.1 m from the trunk. Integrated sensing methodologies supported by the Internet of Things and cloud computing technologies (Agrinet/Tuctronics, Walla Walla, WA, USA), linked with a suitable communication infrastructure, were used to acquire continuously, in real-time and from remote soil water contents and climate variables. Four soil moisture profiles corresponding to as many plants were monitored with 120 cm long drill and drop sensors installed at a distance of 30 cm from one emitter. A standard weather station (Spectrum Technologies, Inc) was also installed to acquire, once every half hour, wind speed and direction at 2 m height, solar radiation, air temperature, relative air humidity and precipitation. In both years, sap fluxes were also measured hourly on two citrus trees, by using two Granier’s thermal dissipation probes (TDP) per tree. Each hour, the difference of temperature between the upper heated and lower un-heated needles, combined with the temperature difference at night allowed to estimate the sap velocity and then the hourly sap fluxes.
The analysis evidenced the characteristic declines of soil water content after rainfall events, from which it was possible verifying that the hourly dynamic of root water uptake followed that of the corresponding sap flow sensors. Moreover, the knowledge of daily root water uptake, associated with the simultaneous values of reference evapotranspiration allowed obtaining suitable estimations of the basal crop coefficient. The proposed approach provided interesting insights into the dynamic of root water uptake of citrus trees and can represent a promising tool for precise irrigation scheduling.
Giuseppe Provenzano; Daniel Alberto Segovia-Cardozo. Detecting crop water requirements indicators in irrigated agro-ecosystems from soil water content profiles: an application for a citrus orchard. 2021, 1 .
AMA StyleGiuseppe Provenzano, Daniel Alberto Segovia-Cardozo. Detecting crop water requirements indicators in irrigated agro-ecosystems from soil water content profiles: an application for a citrus orchard. . 2021; ():1.
Chicago/Turabian StyleGiuseppe Provenzano; Daniel Alberto Segovia-Cardozo. 2021. "Detecting crop water requirements indicators in irrigated agro-ecosystems from soil water content profiles: an application for a citrus orchard." , no. : 1.
Soil moisture (SM) is an essential element in the hydrological cycle influencing land-atmosphere interactions and rainfall-runoff processes. High-resolution mapping of SM at field scale is vital for understanding spatial and temporal behavior of water availability in agriculture. Unmanned Arial Systems (UAS) offer an extraordinary opportunity to bridge the existing gap between point-scale field observations and satellite remote sensing providing high spatial details at relatively low costs. Moreover, this data can help the construction of downscaling models to generate high-resolution SM maps. For instance, random Forest (RF) regression model can link the land surface features and SM to identify the importance level of each predictor.
The RF regression model has been tested using a combination of satellite imageries, UAS data and point measurements collected on the experimental area Monteforte Cilento site (MFC2) in the Alento river basin (Campania, Italy) which is an 8 hectares cropland area (covered by walnuts, cherry, and olive trees). This area has been selected given the number of long-term studies on the vadose zone that have been conducted across a range of spatial scales.
The coarse resolution data cover from Jan 2015 to Dec 2019 and include SENTINEL-1 CSAR 1km SM product, 1km Land surface temperature and NDVI products from MODIS and 30m thermal band (brightness temperature), red and green band data (atmospherically corrected surface reflectance) from LANDSAT-8, and SRTM DEM from NASA. High-resolution land-surface features data from UAS-mounted optical, thermal, multispectral, and hyperspectral sensors were used to generate high-resolution SM and related soil attributes.
It is to note that the available satellite-based soil moisture data has a coarse resolution of 1km while the UAS-based land surface features of the extremely high resolution of 16cm. We deployed a two-step downscaling approach to address the smooth effect of spatial averaging of soil moisture, which depends on different elements at small and large scale. Specifically, different combinations of predictors were adopted for different scales of gridded soil moisture data. For example, in the downscaling procedure from 1km resolution to 30m resolution, precipitation, land-surface temperature (LST), vegetation indices (VIs), and elevation were used while LST, VIs, slope, and topographic index were selected for the downscaling from 30m to 16cm resolution. Indeed, features controlling the spatial distributions of soil moisture at different scale reflect the characteristics of the physical process: i) the surface elevation and rainfall patterns control the first downscaling model; ii) the topographic convergence and local slope become more relevant to reach a more detailed resolution. In conclusion, the study highlighted that RF regression model is able to interpret fairly well the spatial patterns of soil moisture at the scale of 30m starting from a resolution of 1km, while it is highlighted that the second downscaling step (up to few centimeters) is much more complex and requires further studies.
This research is a part of EU COST-Action “HARMONIOUS: Harmonization of UAS techniques for agricultural and natural ecosystems monitoring”.
Keywords: soil moisture, downscaling, Unmanned Aerial Systems, random forest, HARMONIOUS
Ruodan Zhuang; Salvatore Manfreda; Yijian Zeng; Nunzio Romano; Eyal Ben Dor; Antonino Maltese; Paolo Nasta; Nicolas Francos; Fulvio Capodici; Antonio Paruta; Giuseppe Ciraolo; Brigitta Szabó; János Mészáros; George P. Petropoulos; Lijie Zhang; Zhongbo Su. UAS Based Soil Moisture Downscaling Using Random Forest Regression Model. 2021, 1 .
AMA StyleRuodan Zhuang, Salvatore Manfreda, Yijian Zeng, Nunzio Romano, Eyal Ben Dor, Antonino Maltese, Paolo Nasta, Nicolas Francos, Fulvio Capodici, Antonio Paruta, Giuseppe Ciraolo, Brigitta Szabó, János Mészáros, George P. Petropoulos, Lijie Zhang, Zhongbo Su. UAS Based Soil Moisture Downscaling Using Random Forest Regression Model. . 2021; ():1.
Chicago/Turabian StyleRuodan Zhuang; Salvatore Manfreda; Yijian Zeng; Nunzio Romano; Eyal Ben Dor; Antonino Maltese; Paolo Nasta; Nicolas Francos; Fulvio Capodici; Antonio Paruta; Giuseppe Ciraolo; Brigitta Szabó; János Mészáros; George P. Petropoulos; Lijie Zhang; Zhongbo Su. 2021. "UAS Based Soil Moisture Downscaling Using Random Forest Regression Model." , no. : 1.
Several methodologies and techniques are available for irrigation management in protected environments. Despite the cultivation of vegetables in the greenhouse is largely present in the northeastern region of Brazil, not many research has been aimed at supporting growers for accurate irrigation management.
The objective of this study is to evaluate yield and irrigation water use efficiency of Capsicum crop cultivated in a greenhouse under different methods to define the daily irrigation depth, based on the soil water status and the atmospheric evaporative demand. Moreover, two different strategies to apply the estimated irrigation depths (single or double daily application) were also examined.
The experiment was carried out in a greenhouse in the Federal Rural University of Pernambuco (UFRPE), northeastern of Brazil (8° 01’ 07” S and 34° 56’ 53” W, altitude 6.50 m). Based on a completely randomized design, the experimental units were distributed according to a 4 x 2 factorial scheme with eight replications, with a total of 64 experimental units. Four methods to estimate daily irrigation water requirement were evaluated: two based on soil sensors (soil water content sensors EC-5, SWS, and tensiometers, TS), whereas the other two were based on the atmospheric evaporative demand (weighing lysimeter, WL, and Piché evaporimeter, PE). Moreover, the daily irrigation depths were applied with a single watering (at 8:00 am) or split into two applications (the half at 8:00 am and the half at 4:30 pm). The commercial yield of the examined crop was calculated through the relationship between the weight of fresh fruit and the area occupied by the plant.
The statistical analysis showed that the water use efficiency, the total water volume applied and the commercial yield of capsicum were significantly influenced by the method used to estimate crop water requirement, as well as the irrigation strategies. The total irrigation depth applied during the entire crop cycle resulted in equal to 509 mm, 678 mm, 716 mm, and 790 mm for treatments with WL, PE, SWS, and TS, respectively. The seasonal applied irrigation depths corresponded to an average daily crop water requirement ranging, according to the treatments, from 5.4 to 8.3 mm day-1; these values are consistent for the examined crop cultivated under protected conditions. The highest yields of commercial fruits were obtained in the treatments in which the highest irrigation depth (SWS and TS) was applied. On the other hand, the highest values of water use efficiency were obtained in those treatments in which the irrigation depth was defined based on SWS and WL. Splitting the estimated daily irrigation depth in two applications promoted greater commercial productivity and water use efficiency (10.73 t ha-1 and 1.60 kg m-3) compared to a single application (8.14 t ha-1 and 1.22 kg m-3), with an increase of both variables of about 31%. These results evidenced that splitting the daily irrigation depth is a promising strategy to increase water use efficiency for vegetable crops in protected environments.
Ceres Duarte Guedes Cabral de Almeida; Leandro Candido Gordin; Alexsandro Cláudio Dos Santos Almeida; José Amilton Santos Júnior; Brivaldo Gomes de Almeida; Giuseppe Provenzano. Assessing yield and water use efficiency of Capsicum annuum L. cultivated in a greenhouse under different irrigation strategies. 2021, 1 .
AMA StyleCeres Duarte Guedes Cabral de Almeida, Leandro Candido Gordin, Alexsandro Cláudio Dos Santos Almeida, José Amilton Santos Júnior, Brivaldo Gomes de Almeida, Giuseppe Provenzano. Assessing yield and water use efficiency of Capsicum annuum L. cultivated in a greenhouse under different irrigation strategies. . 2021; ():1.
Chicago/Turabian StyleCeres Duarte Guedes Cabral de Almeida; Leandro Candido Gordin; Alexsandro Cláudio Dos Santos Almeida; José Amilton Santos Júnior; Brivaldo Gomes de Almeida; Giuseppe Provenzano. 2021. "Assessing yield and water use efficiency of Capsicum annuum L. cultivated in a greenhouse under different irrigation strategies." , no. : 1.
In recent years, technological advances have been observed in environmental monitoring field, leading to a rapid spread of innovative technologies overcoming many historical challenges. In river monitoring field the use of image-based techniques provides non-intrusive measurements ensuring the best safety conditions for operators. The most used optical methods are the Large-Scale Particle Image Velocimetry (LSPIV) and the Large-Scale Particle Tracking Velocimetry (LSPTV).
In LSPIV and LSPTV techniques a floating tracer is introduced on the water surface and its motion is recorded by commercial devices (e.g. digital cameras). Resulting videos are then processed by free and open source software which applies a statistical cross-correlation analysis to provide the instantaneous surface velocity field.
The aim of this work is to investigate the performance of the most widely used LSPIV software in estimating the surface velocity field taking into account the presence of turbulent structures. Indeed a typical feature of natural river is the presence of turbulent eddies which makes the tracer patterns above the water surface difficult to predict. The evaluation of tracer particle displacement is further complicated by the negative phenomenon of aggregation; it influences cross-correlation causing an incorrect estimation of the velocity vectors.
The study of the hydraulic turbulence of a natural river has been tackled from a numerical point of view. PANORMUS (Parallel Numerical Open-Source Model for Unsteady Flow Simulations) package (Napoli, 2011) has been used by adopting a LES (Large Eddy Simulation) scheme. PANORMUS is a numerical tool coded to solve the 3D momentum equations for incompressible flows (Navier-Stokes and Reynolds equations) using the Finite-Volume Method (FVM). The analyses were carried out on real cases modelled with PANORMUS-LES package. The hydraulic reconstructed domains are characterised by regular cross sections, accurately derived from real topographic survey campaigns, and low river-bed roughness (smooth concrete surface).
Synthetic sequences of tracer motion were derived from the hydraulic model and then processed by using LSPIV software.
The results of such numerical analyses have allowed an evaluation of LSPIV performance assessing the errors in terms of mean value of the surface velocity field and velocity along transverse transects.
Francesco Alongi; Giuseppe Ciraolo; Enrico Napoli; Dario Pumo; Leonardo V. Noto. Large-Eddy Simulation in LSPIV techniques: the study of surface turbolence. 2021, 1 .
AMA StyleFrancesco Alongi, Giuseppe Ciraolo, Enrico Napoli, Dario Pumo, Leonardo V. Noto. Large-Eddy Simulation in LSPIV techniques: the study of surface turbolence. . 2021; ():1.
Chicago/Turabian StyleFrancesco Alongi; Giuseppe Ciraolo; Enrico Napoli; Dario Pumo; Leonardo V. Noto. 2021. "Large-Eddy Simulation in LSPIV techniques: the study of surface turbolence." , no. : 1.
Crop evapotranspiration (ET) plays a key role in many hydrological processes involving the soil-plant-atmosphere system. The concept of reference crop evapotranspiration (ET0) was introduced to estimate the atmosphere evaporation demand independently of crop type, development stage and management practices. Among the available methods to estimate ET0, the Penman-Monteith equation proposed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO56-PM), is considered one of the most accurate, so that it is assumed as a reference to calibrate other simplified procedures. In several regions of the world, the limited availability of meteorological observations to estimate ET0 can be overcome by using gridded reanalysis dataset created by data assimilation of weather observations. Different datasets with relatively high spatial resolution but different in terms of Spatio-temporal resolution have been generated and are freely downloadable at the global scale. The latest ERA5-Land product released in 2019 is characterized by a spatial grid to 0.1° latitude and 0.1° longitude. The database provides several land variables at hourly time-step including, among others, air temperature, dew point temperature and solar radiation at 2.0 m above the soil surface, as well as the wind speed components at 10 m height.
The objective of the research was to assess the suitability of ERA5-Land dataset of climate data to predict daily reference evapotranspiration in Sicily, Italy. For the period 2006-2015, the performance of the reanalysis data to capture the local climate variables was assessed based on the comparison with the corresponding ground data measured by a network of 39 climate stations in Sicily belonging to the Agrometeorological Information Service (SIAS). After evaluating the statistical errors associated with each climatic variables retrieved from the ERA5-Land, the comparison between daily ET0 values obtained with the FAO56-PM and considering both the dataset was carried out.
The analysis showed that air temperature, solar radiation and wind speed retrieved by the ERA-5 dataset resulted in quite good agreement with the corresponding measured on the ground, with an average root mean square error (RMSE) equal respectively to 1.8°C, 2.9 MJm-2d-1, and 1.3 ms-1 and corresponding mean bias errors (MBE) of -0.4°C, 1.0 MJm-2d-1 and -0.1 ms-1. On the other hand, relative air humidity was characterized by average values of RMSE and MBE respectively equal to 10.3% and 5.6%. When considering all the examined climate stations, the RMSE and MBE values associated with ET0 ranged from 0.4 to 1.3 mm d-1, and -1.0 and 0.0 mm d-1, supporting the possibility to consider the ERA-5 data to obtain suitable estimations of crop reference evapotranspiration even for other Mediterranean countries where measured climate data are not available.
Giuseppe Provenzano; Matteo Ippolito. Using the ERA5 dataset of atmospheric variables to estimate daily reference evapotranspiration in Sicily, Italy. 2021, 1 .
AMA StyleGiuseppe Provenzano, Matteo Ippolito. Using the ERA5 dataset of atmospheric variables to estimate daily reference evapotranspiration in Sicily, Italy. . 2021; ():1.
Chicago/Turabian StyleGiuseppe Provenzano; Matteo Ippolito. 2021. "Using the ERA5 dataset of atmospheric variables to estimate daily reference evapotranspiration in Sicily, Italy." , no. : 1.
Estimation of evapotranspiration using the crop coefficient method is one of the most common approaches for irrigation water management. The crop coefficient, Kc, can be estimated as the ratio between maximum crop evapotranspiration, ETmax, and reference evapotranspiration, ET0. However, in the last few decades, many correction factors have been proposed to split Kc into separate coefficients to account for water stress conditions, as well as to estimate separately crop transpiration and soil evaporation. Furthermore, the remote sensing data collected from various satellite platforms have shown their full potential in mapping various vegetation indices (VI), which can be directly related to the spatio-temporal variability of Kc values. Despite various VI-Kc relationships have been proposed in the past years, only recently, thanks to the availability of new sensors with higher temporal and spatial resolutions, it is possible to retrieve new relationships able to follow the variability of the crop coefficient during the different crop phenological stages.
This study aimed at identifying a VI-Kc relationship suitable to map actual evapotranspiration of a citrus orchard based on an extended time-series of NDVI images retrieved by Sentinel-2 platform and combined with a set of field micro-meteorological measurements.
The experiments were carried out during 2019 and 2020 in a commercial citrus orchard (C. reticulata cv. Tardivo di Ciaculli) with tree spacing of 5 x 5 m, located near the city of Palermo, Italy, in which different irrigation systems and management strategies were applied in three different portions of the orchard. In particular, the first portion was irrigated with a traditional micro-sprinkler system (TI) whereas the other two with a subsurface drip system maintained under full irrigation (FI) and deficit irrigation (DI) applied during the phase II of fruit growth (from 1-July to 20-August). The orchard was equipped with a standard weather station (WS) and an Eddy Covariance (EC) tower to acquire, every half-an-hour, precipitation, air temperature and relative humidity, wind speed and direction, global and net solar radiation and, finally, sensible and latent heat fluxes. During the entire period, a weekly dataset of Sentinel-2 images characterized by a spatial resolution of 10 m was acquired and processed in a GIS environment to obtain the spatial and temporal distribution of NDVI. Using the data acquired in 2019, a functional relationship between Kc and NDVI was calibrated accounting only for those periods in which the crop was maintained in the absence of water stress. The values of Kc were determined as the ratio between actual daily ET measured by the EC tower and reference Penman-Monteith ET0 obtained as indicated by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The procedure was then validated with the data recorded in 2020, by comparing estimated crop ET and the corresponding measured by the EC tower. The comparative analysis indicated root-mean-square-error and mean-bias-error associated with estimated ET of about 0.5 mm/d and 0.2 mm/d, respectively. Finally, based on the NDVI maps it was possible to derive the spatial variability of Kc and actual ET, under the different irrigation systems and management strategies.
Matteo Ippolito; Dario De Caro; Mario Minacapilli; Giuseppe Ciraolo; Giuseppe Provenzano. Estimating Crop Coefficients using multitemporal Sentinel-2 remote sensing data to estimate actual evapotranspiration of a citrus orchard. 2021, 1 .
AMA StyleMatteo Ippolito, Dario De Caro, Mario Minacapilli, Giuseppe Ciraolo, Giuseppe Provenzano. Estimating Crop Coefficients using multitemporal Sentinel-2 remote sensing data to estimate actual evapotranspiration of a citrus orchard. . 2021; ():1.
Chicago/Turabian StyleMatteo Ippolito; Dario De Caro; Mario Minacapilli; Giuseppe Ciraolo; Giuseppe Provenzano. 2021. "Estimating Crop Coefficients using multitemporal Sentinel-2 remote sensing data to estimate actual evapotranspiration of a citrus orchard." , no. : 1.
Geostatistical and multivariate techniques have been widely used to identify and characterize the soil spatial variability, as well as to detect possible relationships between soil properties and management. Besides that, these techniques provide information regarding the spatial and temporal structural changes of soils to support better decision-making processes and management practices. Although the Zona da Mata region is a reference for sugarcane production in the northeast of Brazil, only a few studies have been carried out to clarify the effects of different management on soil physical attributes by using geostatistical and multivariate techniques. Thus, the objectives of this study were: (I) to characterize the spatial distribution of soils physical attributes under rainfed and irrigated sugarcane cultivations; (II) to identify the minimum sampling for the determination of soil physical attributes; (III) to detect the effects of the different management on soil physical attributes based on the principal component analysis (PCA). The study was carried out in the agricultural area of the Carpina Sugarcane Experimental Station of the Federal Rural University of Pernambuco, 7º51’13”S, 35º14’10”W, characterized by a Typic Hapludult with sandy clay loam soil texture. The investigated plot, cultivated with sugarcane, included a rainfed and an irrigated treatment in which a sprinkler system was installed according to a 12x12m grid. The interval between consecutive watering was fixed in two days, whereas irrigation depth was calculated to replace crop evapotranspiration (ETc) and accounting for the effective precipitation of the period. Daily ETc was estimated based on crop coefficient and reference evapotranspiration (ETo) indirectly obtained through a class A evaporation pan. In both treatments, the soil spatial variability was determined according to a 56x32m grid, on 32 soil samples collected in the 0.0-0.1m soil layer, spaced 7x8m, and georeferenced with a global position system. The soil was physically characterized according to the following attributes: bulk density (BD), soil penetration resistance (SPR), macroporosity (Macro), mesoporosity (Meso), microporosity (Micro), total porosity (TP), saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat), gravimetric soil water content (SWCg), geometric mean diameter (GMD) and mean weight diameter (MWD). The results of the descriptive statistics showed that among the studied attributes, Ksat, SPR, and Macro presented higher CV values, equal to 63 and 69%, 35 and 40%, and 32 and 44%, under rainfed and irrigated conditions, respectively. The minimum sampling, adequate to characterize the different soil attributes, resulted in general smaller in the rainfed area, characterized by higher homogeneity. Thus, the GMD, SWCg (both with 2 points ha-1), and SPR (with 6 points ha-1) were identified as the soil physical attributes requiring the lowest sample density; on the other hand, MWD and Ksat, with 14 and 15 points ha-1, respectively, required the highest number of samples. Pearson’s correlation analysis evidenced that soil BD was the most influential physical attribute in the studied areas, with a significant and inverse effect in most of the investigated attributes. The geostatistical approach associated with the multivariate PCA provided to understand the relationships between the spatial distribution patterns associated with irrigated and rainfed management and soil physical properties.
Brivaldo Gomes de Almeida; Bruno Campos Mantovanelli; Thiago Rodrigo Schossler; Fernando José Freire; Edivan Rodrigues de Souza; Ceres Duarte Guedes Cabral de Almeida; Giuseppe Provenzano; Djalma Euzébio Simões Neto. Spatial variability of the physical-hydric properties of cohesive soils under rainfed and irrigated sugarcane cultivations. 2021, 1 .
AMA StyleBrivaldo Gomes de Almeida, Bruno Campos Mantovanelli, Thiago Rodrigo Schossler, Fernando José Freire, Edivan Rodrigues de Souza, Ceres Duarte Guedes Cabral de Almeida, Giuseppe Provenzano, Djalma Euzébio Simões Neto. Spatial variability of the physical-hydric properties of cohesive soils under rainfed and irrigated sugarcane cultivations. . 2021; ():1.
Chicago/Turabian StyleBrivaldo Gomes de Almeida; Bruno Campos Mantovanelli; Thiago Rodrigo Schossler; Fernando José Freire; Edivan Rodrigues de Souza; Ceres Duarte Guedes Cabral de Almeida; Giuseppe Provenzano; Djalma Euzébio Simões Neto. 2021. "Spatial variability of the physical-hydric properties of cohesive soils under rainfed and irrigated sugarcane cultivations." , no. : 1.
Recent advances in image-based methods for environmental monitoring are opening new frontiers for remote streamflow measurements in natural environments. Such techniques offer numerous advantages compared to traditional approaches. Despite the wide availability of cost-effective devices and software for image processing, these techniques are still rarely systematically implemented in practical applications, probably due to the lack of consistent operational protocols for both phases of images acquisition and processing. In this work, the optimal experimental setup for LSPIV based flow velocity measurements under different conditions is explored using the software PIVlab, investigating performance and sensitivity to some key factors. Different synthetic image sequences, reproducing a river flow with a realistic velocity profile and uniformly distributed floating tracers, are generated under controlled conditions. Different parametric scenarios are created considering diverse combinations of flow velocity, tracer size, seeding density, and environmental conditions. Multiple replications per scenario are processed, using descriptive statistics to characterize errors in PIVlab estimates. Simulations highlight the crucial role of some parameters (e.g., seeding density) and demonstrate how appropriate video duration, frame-rate and parameters setting in relation to the hydraulic conditions can efficiently counterbalance many of the typical operative issues (i.e., scarce tracer concentration) and improve algorithms performance.
Dario Pumo; Francesco Alongi; Giuseppe Ciraolo; Leonardo Noto. Optical Methods for River Monitoring: A Simulation-Based Approach to Explore Optimal Experimental Setup for LSPIV. Water 2021, 13, 247 .
AMA StyleDario Pumo, Francesco Alongi, Giuseppe Ciraolo, Leonardo Noto. Optical Methods for River Monitoring: A Simulation-Based Approach to Explore Optimal Experimental Setup for LSPIV. Water. 2021; 13 (3):247.
Chicago/Turabian StyleDario Pumo; Francesco Alongi; Giuseppe Ciraolo; Leonardo Noto. 2021. "Optical Methods for River Monitoring: A Simulation-Based Approach to Explore Optimal Experimental Setup for LSPIV." Water 13, no. 3: 247.
Giuseppe Provenzano; Hiba Ghazouani; Giovanni Rallo. Discussion of “Modeling Approaches for Determining Appropriate Depth of Subsurface Drip Irrigation Tubing in Alfalfa” by Rocio Guadalupe Reyes-Esteves and Donald C. Slack. Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering 2021, 147, 07020014 .
AMA StyleGiuseppe Provenzano, Hiba Ghazouani, Giovanni Rallo. Discussion of “Modeling Approaches for Determining Appropriate Depth of Subsurface Drip Irrigation Tubing in Alfalfa” by Rocio Guadalupe Reyes-Esteves and Donald C. Slack. Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering. 2021; 147 (1):07020014.
Chicago/Turabian StyleGiuseppe Provenzano; Hiba Ghazouani; Giovanni Rallo. 2021. "Discussion of “Modeling Approaches for Determining Appropriate Depth of Subsurface Drip Irrigation Tubing in Alfalfa” by Rocio Guadalupe Reyes-Esteves and Donald C. Slack." Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering 147, no. 1: 07020014.
This study aimed to develop a new model, valid for soil with and without expandable characters, to estimate volumetric soil water content (θ) from readings of scaled frequency (SF) acquired with the Diviner 2000® sensor. The analysis was carried out on six soils collected in western Sicily, sieved at 5 mm, and repacked to obtain the maximum and minimum bulk density (ρb). During an air-drying process SF values, the corresponding gravimetric soil water content (U) and ρb were monitored. In shrinking/swelling clay soils, due to the contraction process, the variation of dielectric permittivity was affected by the combination of the mutual proportions between the water volumes and the air present in the soil. Thus, to account for the changes of ρb with U, the proposed model assumed θ as the dependent variable being SF and ρb the independent variables; then the model’s parameters were estimated based on the sand and clay fractions. The model validation was finally carried out based on data acquired in undisturbed monoliths sampled in the same areas. The estimated θ, θestim, was generally close to the corresponding measured, θmeas, with Root Mean Square Errors (RMSE) generally lower than 0.049 cm3 cm−3, quite low Mean Bias Errors (MBE), ranging between −0.028 and 0.045 cm3 cm−3, and always positive Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiency index (NSE), confirming the good performance of the model.
Giuseppe Provenzano; Giovanni Rallo; Ceres Duarte Guedes Cabral De Almeida; Brivaldo Gomes De Almeida. Development and Validation of a New Calibration Model for Diviner 2000® Probe Based on Soil Physical Attributes. Water 2020, 12, 3414 .
AMA StyleGiuseppe Provenzano, Giovanni Rallo, Ceres Duarte Guedes Cabral De Almeida, Brivaldo Gomes De Almeida. Development and Validation of a New Calibration Model for Diviner 2000® Probe Based on Soil Physical Attributes. Water. 2020; 12 (12):3414.
Chicago/Turabian StyleGiuseppe Provenzano; Giovanni Rallo; Ceres Duarte Guedes Cabral De Almeida; Brivaldo Gomes De Almeida. 2020. "Development and Validation of a New Calibration Model for Diviner 2000® Probe Based on Soil Physical Attributes." Water 12, no. 12: 3414.
The state of the art is plenty of classification methods. Pixel-based methods include the most traditional ones. Although these achieved high accuracy when classifying remote sensing images, some limits emerged with the advent of very high-resolution images that enhanced the spectral heterogeneity within a class. Therefore, in the last decade, new classification methods capable of overcoming these limits have undergone considerable development. Within this research, we compared the performances of an Object-based and a Pixel-Based classification method, the Random Forests (RF) and the Object-Based Image Analysis (OBIA), respectively. Their ability to quantify the extension and the perimeter of the elements of each class was evaluated through some performance indices. Algorithm parameters were calibrated on a subset, then, applied on the whole image. Since these algorithms perform accurately in quantifying the elements areas, but worse if we consider the perimeters length, hence, the aim of this research was to setup some post-processing techniques to improve, in particular, this latter performance. Algorithms were applied on peculiar classes of an area comprising the Isole dello Stagnone di Marsala oriented natural reserve, in north-western corner of Si-cily, salt pans and agricultural settlements. The area was covered by a World View-2 multispectral image consisting of eight spectral bands spanning from visible to near-infrared wavelengths and characterized by a spatial resolution of two meters. Both classification algorithms did not quantify accurately object perimeters; especially RF. Post-processing algorithm improved the estimates, which however remained more accurate for OBIA than for RF.
Tommaso Sarzana; Antonino Maltese; Alessandra Capolupo; Eufemia Tarantino. Post-processing of Pixel and Object-Based Land Cover Classifications of Very High Spatial Resolution Images. Transactions on Petri Nets and Other Models of Concurrency XV 2020, 12252, 797 -812.
AMA StyleTommaso Sarzana, Antonino Maltese, Alessandra Capolupo, Eufemia Tarantino. Post-processing of Pixel and Object-Based Land Cover Classifications of Very High Spatial Resolution Images. Transactions on Petri Nets and Other Models of Concurrency XV. 2020; 12252 ():797-812.
Chicago/Turabian StyleTommaso Sarzana; Antonino Maltese; Alessandra Capolupo; Eufemia Tarantino. 2020. "Post-processing of Pixel and Object-Based Land Cover Classifications of Very High Spatial Resolution Images." Transactions on Petri Nets and Other Models of Concurrency XV 12252, no. : 797-812.
This paper addresses the tsunami propagation and subsequent coastal areas flooding by means of a depth-integrated numerical model. Such an approach is fundamental in order to assess the inundation hazard in coastal areas generated by seismogenic tsunami. In this study we adopted, an interdisciplinary approach, in order to consider the tsunami propagation, relates both to geomorphological characteristics of the coast and the bathymetry. In order to validate the numerical model, comparisons with results of other studies were performed. This manuscript presents first applicative results achieved using the weakly dispersive Boussinesq model in the field of tsunami propagation and coastal inundation. Ionic coast of Sicily (Italy) was chosen as a case study due to its high level of exposure to tsunamis. Indeed, the tsunami could be generated by an earthquake in the external Calabrian arc or in the Hellenic arc, both active seismic zones. Finally, in order to demonstrate the possibility to give indications to local authorities, an inundation map, over a small area, was produced by means of the numerical model.
Carlo Lo Re; Giorgio Manno; Giuseppe Ciraolo. Tsunami Propagation and Flooding in Sicilian Coastal Areas by Means of a Weakly Dispersive Boussinesq Model. Water 2020, 12, 1448 .
AMA StyleCarlo Lo Re, Giorgio Manno, Giuseppe Ciraolo. Tsunami Propagation and Flooding in Sicilian Coastal Areas by Means of a Weakly Dispersive Boussinesq Model. Water. 2020; 12 (5):1448.
Chicago/Turabian StyleCarlo Lo Re; Giorgio Manno; Giuseppe Ciraolo. 2020. "Tsunami Propagation and Flooding in Sicilian Coastal Areas by Means of a Weakly Dispersive Boussinesq Model." Water 12, no. 5: 1448.
In the last few decades, the use of centre-pivot irrigation systems has significantly increased, since it makes farming easier, is more efficient and less time-consuming compared to the other irrigation systems. Several studies have been focused on the hydraulics of the centre-pivot systems. Standard high-pressure impact sprinklers or low-pressure spray sprinklers or Low Energy Precision Application (LEPA) systems are generally mounted on the pipeline.
To ensure the uniformity of water application, the centre-pivot design requires increasing the flow rates along the lateral, because the sprinklers farther from the pivot move faster, and therefore their instantaneous application rates must be greater. Thus, the irrigated area under a centre-pivot system expands substantially with increasing system length. To irrigate the increased area by maintaining constant the application intensity, the manufacturers propose: i) to increase the flow rates of equally spaced sprinklers, ii) to gradually decrease the spacing of equal-flow sprinklers along the centre-pivot lateral, and iii) to use semi-uniform spacing, which is a combination of the first two methods.
However, the most common centre-pivot systems have equally spaced sprinklers with increasing flow rates (nozzle sizes) along the lateral, which is probably the easiest method from a practical point of view. Although many definitions and design procedures can be found in the technical literature, a universally accepted design procedure has not yet been found. In fact, the issue of centre-pivot irrigation system design is widely debated and there is still a need for simple, yet adaptive designing guidelines for farmers using these systems, specifically to maximize water use efficiency.
This study presents an alternative design procedure of centre-pivot irrigation system allowing to set favourable water application rates. First, the sprinklers’ spacing distribution corresponding to a fixed irrigated area along the radial direction is derived. According to this outcome, the results showed that sprinkler characteristics and/or pipe diameter need to be varied along the lateral, based on the desired and uniform water application rate. Then, for a practical case, an application based on the proposed hydraulic design procedure was performed and discussed.
Giorgio Baiamonte; Mustafa Elfahl; Giuseppe Provenzano. Centre-pivot irrigation system design for uniform water application rate. 2020, 1 .
AMA StyleGiorgio Baiamonte, Mustafa Elfahl, Giuseppe Provenzano. Centre-pivot irrigation system design for uniform water application rate. . 2020; ():1.
Chicago/Turabian StyleGiorgio Baiamonte; Mustafa Elfahl; Giuseppe Provenzano. 2020. "Centre-pivot irrigation system design for uniform water application rate." , no. : 1.
Soil water content is an important parameter for irrigation management. Among the indirect methods to determine soil water content (SWC), there are electronic sensors, that need site-specific calibration to increase the accuracy of the measurements. In this research, a capacitance probe (Diviner 2000®, Sentek Pty Ltda., Australia) was calibrated for two agricultural soils. The experiment was carried out in a protected environment at the Federal Rural University of Pernambuco (UFRPE), Brazil. The textural classes of soils were sandy clay loam (66% sand) and sandy (95% sand). Undisturbed and disturbed soil samples were collected in the soil top layer (0-30 cm). The disturbed soil samples were initially air-dried, passed through a 4.75 mm mesh sieve, and then introduced to fill eight vessels (four replications for each soil). These vessels, equipped with drainage holes, have lower and upper diameters of 15 cm and 25 cm, respectively, and height of 22.5 cm (4.66 L). In each pot, a 5 cm layer of gravel with an average diameter of 2 cm covered with bidim® geotextile was disposed before introducing the soil. During filling, the soil was compacted to reach the same bulk density measured on the undisturbed samples (sandy clay loam: 1.54 g cm-3 and sandy: 1.50 g cm-3). In the center of each pot, a PVC access tube was installed. According to the manufacturer's recommendation, during calibration, the probe normalization was performed. The pots were wetted by capillary rise and, once saturated, they were placed on a bench for drainage. After this process stopped each pot was daily weighed at a fixed time (8 a.m.), and the sensor reading was acquired until when the daily mass variations became negligible. Data were used for regression analysis to fit the site-specific calibration equation and to evaluate the mean error. Linear calibration equations, characterized by R2=0.931 and 0.986, were obtained for the sandy clay loam and the sandy soil, respectively. The mean errors (ME) associated with the manufacturer’s equation resulted in -0.05 and -0.01 for sandy clay loam and for sandy soil and decreased after calibration. The results confirmed the suitability of the manufacturer's equation in sandy soils. On the other hand, the manufacture’s equation slightly underestimated SWC, in sandy clay loam soil, especially in the range above 0.26 m3 m-3. The Diviner 2000 probe can be therefore successfully used to support irrigation management in irrigated areas with soils similar to those investigated because it is easy to operate and allows fairly accurate estimations of soil water content.
Ceres Duarte Guedes Cabral De Almeida; Lais Barreto Franco; José Ediclécio Barbosa Dos Santos; Brivaldo Gomes De Almeida; Giuseppe Provenzano. Calibration and evaluation of a capacitance probe in agricultural soils in northeast Brazil. 2020, 1 .
AMA StyleCeres Duarte Guedes Cabral De Almeida, Lais Barreto Franco, José Ediclécio Barbosa Dos Santos, Brivaldo Gomes De Almeida, Giuseppe Provenzano. Calibration and evaluation of a capacitance probe in agricultural soils in northeast Brazil. . 2020; ():1.
Chicago/Turabian StyleCeres Duarte Guedes Cabral De Almeida; Lais Barreto Franco; José Ediclécio Barbosa Dos Santos; Brivaldo Gomes De Almeida; Giuseppe Provenzano. 2020. "Calibration and evaluation of a capacitance probe in agricultural soils in northeast Brazil." , no. : 1.
New technologies in agriculture present the opportunity to create intuitive and user-friendly decision support systems, and to improve the productivity of the systems requiring water and energy. In the last few years, the adoption of these technologies have been increasing through third mission activities, and the collaboration between researchers, consultants, agri-food managers and farmers.
The general objective of the proposed dissemination activity carried out by the AgrHySMo laboratory of the University of Pisa, was to transfer a soil moisture-based wireless sensor network (SM-WSN) to a commercial pear orchard named Illuminati Frutta (Arezzo, Italy), for the feedback control of irrigation.
The plan of the third mission activity was designed by the following phases: i) the team evaluated the hydraulic performance and management of the irrigation system in the pear orchard; ii) the use of proximal sensing provided the NDVI for the biophysical characterization of the crop in a pilot area extended thirteen ha; iii) the open-source QGIS suite program was used to elaborate the collected images, to assess a zoning analysis, and to discretize homogeneous areas inside the orchard. These zoning maps were used to define the topology of the SM-WSN.
The orchard was characterized by four homogeneous zones, inside which at least one sensor of soil water content (FDR Drill and Drop probe, Sentek Inc.) was installed. A total of 6 probes were installed in the pilot area. The hardware and the smartphone of the dedicated sensor network applications, AgriNET, were provided by Tuctronics (Walla Walla, Washington, USA). The measurements of volumetric soil water contents are sent to a platform using the MODBUS RTU protocol interfaced with a communication board and then delivered, using the cellular 3G data network, to a MySQL database operated by AgriNET/Tuctronics accessible from the web. According to the ordinary scheduling of irrigation, the expert system allowed the farmer to maintain the soil water content within a pre-defined optimal range, which upper limit corresponds to the soil field capacity and the lower is the threshold below which water stress occurs. During the first experimental growing season, by considering the results obtained in the pilot plot, compared with the ordinary irrigation scheduling the farmer saved up to 35% of the water and energy supply. In the future, the proposed feedback control of irrigation protocol will be extended to the entire farm. Thus, the adoption of this new technology aimed at identifying the most appropriate irrigation management, have the potential to generate positive economic returns and to reduce the environmental impacts.
Angela Puig Sirera; Giovanni Rallo; Stefano Giusti; Giuseppe Provenzano; Andrea Sbrana; Jeff Tuker; Rossano Massai. Expert soil moisture Wireless Sensor Network for the feed-back control of irrigation in heterogeneous crop systems. 2020, 1 .
AMA StyleAngela Puig Sirera, Giovanni Rallo, Stefano Giusti, Giuseppe Provenzano, Andrea Sbrana, Jeff Tuker, Rossano Massai. Expert soil moisture Wireless Sensor Network for the feed-back control of irrigation in heterogeneous crop systems. . 2020; ():1.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAngela Puig Sirera; Giovanni Rallo; Stefano Giusti; Giuseppe Provenzano; Andrea Sbrana; Jeff Tuker; Rossano Massai. 2020. "Expert soil moisture Wireless Sensor Network for the feed-back control of irrigation in heterogeneous crop systems." , no. : 1.
Optimizing irrigation management requires increasing the accuracy of moisture monitoring in soils or substrates, especially when it depends on electronic sensor readings. Substrates are widely used in horticulture, for growing urban ornamental plants, as well as on green roofs. Due to the lack of information about the accuracy of soil water content sensors on substrates, this research was carried out to evaluate the accuracy of the 10HS sensor (Decagon Devices Inc., Pullman, WA) to estimate soil water content (SWC) in organic substrates and mineral soil. The study was carried out at the Hydrology Laboratory of the University of Palermo. The sensors were inserted into substrates or soil in conical vessels (4 dm3 volume), drilled at the base to measure the drained volume and covered with a transparent film to limit surface evaporation. For both the substrates (A and B) and the mineral soil (C), a known amount was placed in the vessel and compacted to a value of bulk density equal to 0.177 g cm-3, 0.471 g cm-3, 1.480 g cm-3, respectively. The sensors were connected to a CR1000 datalogger (Campbell Scientific Inc., Logan, UT), which allowed the data acquisition and storage. The tests were conducted by wetting the samples with the progressive addition of known volumes of water (about 40 cm3) that were evenly distributed over the sample surface. After the end of the redistribution process of water applied to the container, the sensor readings were acquired. SWC monitoring was performed until reaching the value corresponding to the field capacity. The calibration equation recommended by the sensor manufacturer systematically underestimated the values of SWC of about 5% or more when the substrate A and B were used. On the other hand, when evaluating the sensor performance in the mineral soil (C), it was observed that the errors associated with the manufacturer's equation resulted in ±5%. Therefore, for both substrates specific calibration is necessary to improve the sensor’s accuracy, even accounting for the bulk density; on the other hand, for the mineral soil, the manufacturer's equation can be considered suitable.
Giuseppe Provenzano; Giovanni Gugliuzza; Ceres Duarte Guedes Cabral De Almeida. Response of Decagon 10HS soil water content sensor to different porous media. 2020, 1 .
AMA StyleGiuseppe Provenzano, Giovanni Gugliuzza, Ceres Duarte Guedes Cabral De Almeida. Response of Decagon 10HS soil water content sensor to different porous media. . 2020; ():1.
Chicago/Turabian StyleGiuseppe Provenzano; Giovanni Gugliuzza; Ceres Duarte Guedes Cabral De Almeida. 2020. "Response of Decagon 10HS soil water content sensor to different porous media." , no. : 1.