Earth Observations and Integrative Models in Support of Food and Water Security

Abstract

Global food production depends upon many factors that Earth observing satellites routinely measure about water, energy, weather, and ecosystems. Increasingly sophisticated, publicly available satellite data products can improve efficiencies in resource management and provide earlier indication of environmental disruption. Satellite remote sensing provides a consistent, long-term record that can be used effectively to detect large-scale features over time, such as a developing drought. Accuracy and capabilities have increased along with the range of Earth observations and derived products that can support food security decisions with actionable information. This paper highlights major capabilities facilitated by satellite observations and physical models that have been developed and validated using remotely sensed observations. Although we primarily focus on variables relevant to agriculture, we also include a brief description of the growing use of Earth observations in support of aquaculture and fisheries.

Strong regional influence of climatic forcing datasets on global crop model ensembles

“…Some models utilize hourly information to better understand processes related to the diurnal cycle. High-quality in situ measurements remain the gold standard for model simulations, with remote sensing and retrospective analyses ('reanalyses') filling in gaps in space and time (Gelaro et al, 2017;Schollaert Uz et al, 2019). Agricultural applications benefit from the combination of best performing products (Toreti et al, 2019), although care must be taken to ensure that CFDs utilize bias adjustment techniques that maintain the statistics most relevant to crop models (Famien et al, 2018;Galmarini et al, 2019;Parkes et al, 2019).…”

Enhancing Satellite Oceanography-Driven Research in West Africa: a Case Study of Capacity Development in an Underserved Region

“…The West African monsoon drives weather and climatic variabilities in the subregion [ 22 ]. With agriculture being the main source of employment and a major source of foreign exchange earnings, there is a critical need to study weather and climatic patterns to better inform farmers, agriculture service providers (e.g., extension officers and agrometeorologists), and policy makers [ 34 ]. Such studies could benefit from the extensive, freely available satellite data.…”

Genetic variability and evolutionary dynamics of atypical Papaya ringspot virus infecting Papaya.

“…Unearthing of next generation sequencing (NGS), molecular characterization of viruses and their gene motifs have gained pace in recent decade and ultimately leads to the emergence of many new viruses in International Committee on Virus Taxonomy (ICTV) reports. Therefore, crop health and disease management rely on the development of supportive information from a particular virus genome and its encoded genes for the estimation of overall field conditions and avoid subsequent crop losses to ensure food safety 1 .…”