Patterns of crop evaporation in the Indus Basin, recognized from the NOAA-AVHRR Satellite

Abstract

The renewed interest for water conservation and the productivity of resources directly follows the increasing water scarcity at the global scale. Modern technological applications are essential to diagnose how water is used and determine who the water users in river basin systems are. The competition for water resources is most acutely experienced near river basin systems, where most citizens commonly live and work. Traditionally, irrigation water effectiveness is evaluated on the basis of flow rates through the main irrigation channels. This paper shows a method to compute consumptive use and soil water availability based on public domain satellite remote sensing data. The entire Indus River system is spatio-temporally modeled using a raster network based on National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration - Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (NOAA-AVHRR) data, at a spatial resolution of 1.1 km. The surface energy balance is the prime basis for calculations of evaporation and crop water stress, and thought to be more representative than canal discharge measurements to evaluate the management of all water resources.