Back to Search Start Over

Can we Monitor Height of Native Grasslands in Uruguay with Earth Observation?

Authors :
Martín Do Carmo
Walter E. Baethgen
Pietro Ceccato
Andrea Ruggia
Guadalupe Tiscornia
Source :
Remote Sensing, Vol 11, Iss 15, p 1801 (2019), Remote Sensing; Volume 11; Issue 15; Pages: 1801
Publication Year :
2019
Publisher :
MDPI AG, 2019.

Abstract

In countries where livestock production based on native grasslands is an important economic activity, information on structural characteristics of forage is essential to support national policies and decisions at the farm level. Remote sensing is a good option for quantifying large areas in a relative short time, with low cost and with the possibility of analyzing annual evolution. This work aims at contributing to improve grazing management, by evaluating the ability of remote sensing information to estimate forage height, as an estimator of available biomass. Field data (forage height) of 20 commercial paddocks under grazing conditions (322 samples), and their relation to MODIS data (FPAR, LAI, MIR, NIR, Red, NDVI and EVI) were analyzed. Correlations between remote sensing information and field measurements were low, probably due to the extremely large variability found within each paddock for field observations (CV: Around 75%) and much lower when considering satellite information (MODIS: CV: 4%–6% and Landsat:CV: 12%). Despite this, the red band showed some potential (with significant correlation coefficient values in 41% of the paddocks) and justifies further exploration. Additional work is needed to find a remote sensing method that can be used to monitor grasslands height.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
20724292
Volume :
11
Issue :
15
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
Remote Sensing
Accession number :
edsair.doi.dedup.....a73e6feb88a03fafed2b84348a7178da