Abstract
Evaluation of spatially distributed crop coefficient
(Kc) for estimating evapotranspiration
(ETc) based on remotely sensed imagery has become an
essential topic in managing the demand for agricultural water.
Currently, satellite (MODIS, Landsat, etc.) imageries are not
insufficient to detect variability within the small agricultural field
due to its lack of desired spatial and temporal resolutions. Unmanned
Aerial Vehicle (UAV) equipped with various sensors like Multispectral
(MS), Thermal, and Hyperspectral cameras is becoming an emerging
technology to overcome these limitations over small agricultural fields.
A field experiment is carried out in the Agricultural and Food
Engineering (AGFE) Department, IIT Kharagpur, to estimate
Kc over the small Agri. Field using UAV-based MS cameras
during Kharif (monsoon) 2019-2020 season. Lysimeters are used for
estimating daily ETc for conventionally irrigated paddy
crops. Reference evapotranspiration (ET0) is also
calculated using the weather data of the study area. High-resolution
multispectral imageries are acquired using a quad-copter UAV. The
imageries are pre-processed using Pix4Dmapper software, and various
vegetation indices (such as NDVI, TNDVI, NDRE, RVI, GNDVI, and LCI) are
evaluated. The vegetation indices (VIs) are correlated
with ground truth Kc values and spatially distributed
Kc maps for the whole study area are generated based
upon the excellent correlation between the VIs and
ground Kc. The spatial Kc maps clearly
show the variation in Kc within the plots and will be
helpful for the calculation of Kc for any field without
a lysimeter experiment. Generated Kc maps describe the
crop water demand by visual color variations within the field. This
approach may be helpful in understanding the variability in crop water
requirements within the field Keywords: UAV, Crop Coefficient
(Kc), Crop Evapotranspiration (ETc),
Vegetation Indices, Remote Sensing.