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Multispectral remote sensing to estimate actual crop coefficients and evapotranspiration rates for grass pastures in western Colorado

dc.contributor.authorGautam, Sumit, author
dc.contributor.authorChávez, José L., advisor
dc.contributor.authorCabot, Perry, advisor
dc.contributor.authorBrummer, Joe, committee member
dc.date.accessioned2018-09-10T20:04:39Z
dc.date.available2018-09-10T20:04:39Z
dc.date.issued2018
dc.description.abstractEvapotranspiration is the process by which water moves into the atmosphere by evaporation from the soil surface and transpiration from growing plants. Knowledge of crop evapotranspiration (ETc) is important for effective irrigation water management. Among the various methods used to estimate ETc, the standardized FAO56 Penman-Monteith approach, using tabulated generalized Kc values, has been widely adopted to estimate crop evapotranspiration. Remote sensing techniques are growing rapidly as a way to monitor actual crop water use. Remotely sensed data are used in algorithms to measure the spectral reflectance of the crop canopies. The differences in reflectance values, at different bandwidths from typical multispectral signatures, help determine the current or actual canopy properties like fractional crop cover, water stress, nutrient level, etc. The actual crop coefficients (Kca) were calculated using actual crop evapotranspiration (ETa) and alfalfa based reference crop evapotranspiration (ETr) rates. The soil water balance approach was used to calculate ETa for grass hay/pasture during the 2016 and 2017 growing seasons. A handheld multispectral radiometer was used to collect surface/canopy reflectance data. Vegetation indices (VI) were calculated using the surface reflectance data. Vegetation indices are the mathematical combination or transformation of surface reflectance in different spectral bands. Vegetation indices were then related to Kca to develop Kca(VI) models. Among the 11 different Kca(VI) based models evaluated, the Green normalized difference vegetation index (GNDVI) based Kca(VI) model performed better on a daily timestep. Depending upon the availability of surface reflectance readings, the user can use either of the four Kca(VI) based models: GNDVI, Transformed vegetation index (TVI), Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), or Infrared percentage vegetation index (IPVI) to estimate ETa. However, it is recommended to use the GNDVI based Kca(VI) model for increased accuracy. The results from this study can be used to estimate near real-time ETa rates for grass hay/pastures.
dc.format.mediumborn digital
dc.format.mediummasters theses
dc.identifierGautam_colostate_0053N_14937.pdf
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10217/191348
dc.languageEnglish
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisherColorado State University. Libraries
dc.relation.ispartof2000-2019
dc.rightsCopyright and other restrictions may apply. User is responsible for compliance with all applicable laws. For information about copyright law, please see https://libguides.colostate.edu/copyright.
dc.titleMultispectral remote sensing to estimate actual crop coefficients and evapotranspiration rates for grass pastures in western Colorado
dc.typeText
dcterms.rights.dplaThis Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights (https://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/). You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
thesis.degree.disciplineCivil and Environmental Engineering
thesis.degree.grantorColorado State University
thesis.degree.levelMasters
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Science (M.S.)

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