From vine to vineyard: the GRAPEX multi-scale remote sensing experiment for improving vineyard irrigation management

Abstract

This second special issue of the Grape Remote sensing Atmospheric Profile and Evapotranspiration eXperiment (GRAPEX) further advances and expands upon the initial research findings of the first GRAPEX special issue on the measurement and remote sensing of vine water use and stress. This is a highly collaborative and interdisciplinary experiment, which involves USDA-ARS scientists, industry, and university researchers. The large scope of this research has allowed the development of new measurement and remote sensing tools and techniques to quantify vine evapotranspiration, moisture status, and stress, with the ultimate goal of improving irrigation management in California vineyards.

Hyperspectral and Photodiode Retrievals of Nighttime LED‐Induced Chlorophyll Fluorescence (LEDIF) for Tracking Photosynthetic Phenology in a Vineyard

“…Plants were positioned in an east-west row orientation with 3.35 m of space between rows and approximately 1.5 m of space between plants with a continuous canopy within the row. The vineyard was divided into four subplots approximately four ha each as part of the Grape Remote Sensing Atmospheric Profile and Evapotranspiration eXperiment (GRAPEX) project (Kustas et al, 2018(Kustas et al, , 2022. The canopy height ranged from 1.5 to 2.2 m. Soil type is classified as loam/sandy loam.…”

Potential of Satellite-Airborne Sensing Technologies for Agriculture 4.0 and Climate-Resilient: A Review

“…On the other hand, some technology companies, such as Microsoft, are also experimenting with emerging technology to improve the agricultural sector. An example of such projects are: GRAPEX [88]: Grape Remote Sensing Atmospheric Pro-file Evapotranspiration eXperiment (GRAPEX) is a highly collaborative and interdisciplinary project that is supported by NASA, USDA, and E&J Gallo 2 . GRAPEX is a remote sensing experiment that started in 2014 to improve irrigation management in California vineyards.…”

A Review of Methods for Data-Driven Irrigation in Modern Agricultural Systems

“…In this method, a flux tower is used to measure changes in vertical air velocity while simultaneously measuring the concentrations of water vapor in the air, in order to calculate the vertical flux of water vapor, giving an estimate of ET [97]. This method is validated for open field crops, vineyards, open water bodies, and grasslands [97,98]. Like other fundamental energy balance concepts, the eddy covariance method is most suited to open, flat, and homogeneous vegetation canopies, an uncommon motif in agricultural settings.…”

“…The eddy covariance method, while favored by researchers for its ability to directly estimate ET, is very challenging to validate. The large scale and high variability of the flux footprint, as well as the open boundary layer of the volume studied, both affected by the degree of advection, create issues for those seeking to make direct comparisons of other ET estimates to the estimates generated by eddy covariance methods [98,108]. The issue of the flexible footprint, which results in energy imbalance between the total available energy and turbulent fluxes calculated by the eddy covariance technique, can lead to overuse of water in agricultural settings.…”

“…To be functional at scale, high-precision water delivery equipment would need to be low-powered, but still operate 24 h a day in harsh conditions and often in remote locations without access to grid power. In these situations, researchers have had success using portable solar energy harvesting panels as well as large-capacity lead-acid batteries to power field equipment [98,119]. Miniaturized versions of this technology could be used to power groups of valves, though choosing the location of solar panels would be important to ensure sufficient sun coverage while also not interfering with plant management practices.…”