Mapping Irrigated Crops and Estimation of Crop Water Consumption in Azraq Basin
01 May,2015
Mapping of irrigated areas and crop water requirement was carried out for Azraq basin using remote sensing data of Landsat 8 and daily weather records for the period October 2013-September 2014. The methodology was based on visual interpretation and digital classification techniques for Landsat 8 OLI data. The map of irrigated crop was based on clouds free images of the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) acquired for different dates. All images were corrected to transfer data into spectral reflectance at ground level. The map of crop was based on decisions (if statements) that transferred NDVI layers into a layer of irrigated crops. Decisions were based on observations collected during field surveys carried out during May and June of 2014. The output map was refined and used to delineate (digitize) precise boundaries of irrigated farms using high resolution images as background for the digitizing process. The output map included 7 major classes that included trees (olives and fruits), vegetables, Alfalfa and barley. Verification of mapping was carried out by inspecting NDVI profiles that characterized each crop and by ground observations.