Accurate assessment of water use is an important issue in a globally changing climate and environment, where water is
becoming a scarce but essential resource. The concept ‘Water Footprint’ (WF) of a crop is defined as the volume of
water consumed for its production, where green and blue WF stand for rain and irrigation water usage, respectively. This
indicator provides valuable information for a global assessment of how water resources are used. Remote sensing (RS)
provides physically-based, worldwide, and consistent spatial information over space and time, and has been used in
hydrological applications in order to estimate relevant variables at different temporal and spatial scales. The paper
focuses on exploring and exploiting the potential of using RS techniques and data for WF assessment in agriculture.
Based on recent papers initiated in this research topic the investigation focuses on how variables needed in the
calculation of water footprint are obtained (based on non RS and on RS approaches), on identifying the inputs required
for estimating the WF of crops and whether it is feasible to integrate various RS approaches. The results of this study
demonstrate the usefulness of satellite data for water footprint assessment, which were obtained by the Remote Sensing
Working Group in the framework of the ESSEM COST Action ES1106, “Assessment of EUROpean AGRIculture
WATer use and trade under climate change” (EURO-AGRIWAT).
One of the main scientific goals of the COST Action ES1106 (“Assessment of European Agriculture Water use and
Trade under Climate Change” EURO-AGRIWAT) is the analysis of the global water footprint (WF) in agriculture and
virtual water trade (VWT). The starting point for further activities is analyses and inventory of data and tools which
could be helpful for WF and WFT assessments.
Evaporation values (ET) are crucial for agriculture where estimates of water reserves available for crops are the basis for
scheduling the time and intensity of irrigation, yield prognoses, etc. Detail evapotranspiration data are, therefore,
of essential value. However, stations performing direct measurements of evapotranspiration are very scarcely distributed
in Poland for which reason the interpolation of the data is necessarily biased. Hence, evapotranspiration values are
calculated using indirect methods (usually empirical formulas).
Data from geostationary meteorological satellites are used operationally for determination of evapotranspiration with
good spatial and temporal resolution (e.g. Land-SAF product). Study of relation between evapotranspiration values
determined with use of satellite data and calculated using Penman-Monteith formula was performed for the study area in
Poland. Daily values and cumulated (i.e. decadal, monthly and yearly) values were analyzed to determine quality and
possible added value of the satellite product. Relation between reference ET and actual ET in two consecutive years was
discussed, both for whole test area and individual stations, taking into account land use and possible water deficit in the
root region, represented by H-SAF soil wetness index product. The differences were presented and discussed.
Snow observations from space play an important role in hydrological and climatological studies. They are especially important in remote areas with low (or none) population and sparse conventional observations at the ground. At the mid latitudes, they are needed especially for assimilation of spatially distributed data concerning snow water equivalent or snow depth derived from microwave satellite data to snowmelt models. This paper presents discussion on several problems with satellite derived snow observations focusing on the JAXA GCOM-W1 snow depth product. This product was analyzed for the period of October 1, 2012, to April 30, 2013, for an area of Poland and verified against ground observations. Benefits and disadvantages of these products were discussed in comparison to other satellite microwave products concerning snow properties. Problems with proper validation against “ground truth” were also highlighted. The possible alternative use of AMSR2 microwave data was also presented.
Remote sensing (RS) has long been a useful tool in global and regional applications. The Water Footprint (WF) of a crop is defined as the volume of water consumed for its production, where green and blue WF stand for rain and irrigation water usage. RS provides new tools for global WF assessment and represents an innovative approach to regional and global irrigation mapping, enabling the estimation of green and blue water use. This paper presents an overview of the EU COST Action ES 1106 "Assessment of European agriculture water use and trade under climate change (EURO-AGRIWAT)", regarding the evaluation of the potential of remote sensing to improve the WF and Virtual Water Trade (VWT) assessment. The main objective is the analysis of the role of satellite data in the suitable models and indices concerned with the analysis of WF and VWT. The main tasks include: an inventory of the existing and near future satellite data records for several European regions that could be used for the WF and VWT assessment; the study of satellite data resolution requirements, in time and space; the analysis of the assimilation of satellite data into models for the determination of green and blue water use; conclusions and recommendations concerning the possibility to integrate remote sensing into WF and VWT accounting. The combination of RS data to assess the volume of irrigation applied, and the green and blue WF faces several limitations with respect to discrepancies in spatial and temporal resolution and data availability, which will be studied.
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