WP-6 focuses on remote-sensing derived ET modeling and lysimetric water-balance data. It provides the essential 'output' component of the hydrological cycle, quantifying how much water is actually consumed by crops and landscapes.
Scientific Objectives
Implement and validate state-of-the-art ET modeling frameworks (e.g., TSEB, METRIC) using satellite data.
Utilize high-resolution Sentinel and Landsat thermal imagery for spatial ET mapping.
Integrate ground-based lysimeter measurements to calibrate regional remote sensing products.
Quantify seasonal and spatial water consumption patterns across diverse cropping systems.
Execution Framework
T1. Remote Sensing ET Retrieval
Estimating energy balance and water loss from space.
- Processing of longitudinal multi-spectral and thermal satellite image stacks.
- Implementation of energy-balance algorithms for surface heat flux estimation.
- Spatial downscaling of thermal data to match agricultural plot scales.
- Development of automated ET processing pipelines for the WebAIS platform.
T2. Ground-based Validation (Lysimetry)
Direct measurement of water balance components.
- Installation and operation of high-precision weighing lysimeters at field hubs.
- Continuous monitoring of precipitation, drainage, and change in soil water storage.
- Calculation of reference ET using localized penman-monteith equations.
- Development of crop-coefficient (Kc) curves for Bangladeshi rice varieties.
T3. Landscape Water Balance
Aggregating flows to understanding regional water stress.
- Integration of ET maps with precipitation data to calculate net water deficits.
- Assessment of irrigation efficiency by comparing actual ET with applied water volumes.
- Analysis of non-productive evaporation vs. productive transpiration in saline areas.
- Visualization of dynamic water consumption 'hotspots' in the Digital Twin.
Project Milestones
Automated remote-sensing ET pipeline integrated with Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-3 data.
Regional ET maps produced and validated for three full agricultural cycles.
Validated crop coefficients (Kc) published for major Boro and Aman varieties.
Integrated landscape-scale water balance module operational in WebAIS.
