Discerning shifting irrigation practices from passive microwave radiometry over Punjab and Haryana

Abstract

Overexploitation of groundwater (GW) in the recent past is a well-known fact for the Punjab and Haryana region of India, as reported by several studies using satellite-based gravity anomaly from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment mission and also by using observed data. This decline in GW has enforced the Punjab Preservation of Sub-Soil Water Act 2009, and resulted in change in rice irrigation practices over the study region. In this study, a shifting pattern of irrigation practices has been detected during pre- and post-Water Act using high temporal passive microwave radiometer (Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer – Earth Observing System, AMSR-E) and optical data. Multi-year soil moisture data for the period May to September were analysed for the years 2002 to 2011. A shift in the early soil wetness pattern has been observed during 2002 to 2011 in most of the study region. The overall delay in irrigation practices was observed to be 10 ± 4 days over Punjab and Haryana in the pre- and post-Water Act implementation. Multi-temporal passive microwave radiometry was found to be expedient for observing the dynamic pattern of irrigation/agricultural practices over Punjab and Haryana states.

A Review of Irrigation Information Retrievals from Space and Their Utility for Users

“…The authors concluded that, even though promising results for the detection of irrigation were found in some specific areas, the spatial mismatch between model and satellite data as well as the confounding effects of topography, vegetation, frozen soils, and Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) led to substantial uncertainties in most regions. A similar approach has been used in several other studies in Spain [80], Australia and Morocco [81], and India [82]. Lawston et al [83] further demonstrated that not only the spatial signature but also the seasonal timing of irrigation over three vastly irrigated areas in the United States could be identified using the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) enhanced 9 km product.…”

Soil Moisture for Hydrological Applications: Open Questions and New Opportunities

“…For instance, Singh et al [147] used Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-Earth Observing System (AMSR-E) soil moisture data for discerning the shifting over time in the irrigation practices in north western India while Qiu et al [146] highlighted that the ESA CCI SM product can be used to detect irrigated areas in eastern China by comparing trends in satellite precipitation and soil moisture. For instance, by using the SM2RAIN method described above, the quantification of irrigation from soil moisture data can be also performed.…”

Earth Observation-Based Operational Estimation of Soil Moisture and Evapotranspiration for Agricultural Crops in Support of Sustainable Water Management

“…In this regard, satellite soil moisture estimates were used to account for irrigation-otherwise not possible through model simulations-in a data assimilation framework for forecasting yields of grain crops in Africa [84]. More recently, [85] showed that AMSR-E soil moisture data could be used for discerning the shifting over time in the irrigation practices in north western India and [86] highlighted that the ESA CCI SM product can be used to detect irrigated areas in eastern China by comparing trends in satellite precipitation and soil moisture.…”