Data rich remote soil water mapping
Engineers at the University of Melbourne and collaborating institutions are researching new techniques to help farmers make use of water trapped in soil and potentially relieve pressure on Australia’s key water catchments.
Melbourne principal researcher, Dr Jeffrey Walker (BAgrSc 1955) (Civil and Environmental Engineering), said Australia’s main river basins were under mounting pressure to satisfy a wide range of competing needs for water.
“A better understanding of soil moisture distribution on farmland will make a huge difference to farmers because it will enable farmers to develop better techniques for using water in soil and to make better use of their limited allocation for irrigation,” he said.
The value of the research goes beyond farming. Soil moisture and its impact on water and energy fluxes can also influence weather and climate predictions.
“It’s been shown that soil moisture is more important than surface sea temperatures (the key indicator of El Nino/La Nina) in making precipitation forecasts over land at mid latitudes,” Dr Walker said.
The project will undertake high resolution mapping of surface and root-zone soil moisture in key areas of Australia. This will involve several large airborne campaigns.
“During the campaigns there will be some 40 people on the ground making detailed soil moisture and related measurements, including visitors from NASA , the European Space Agency, CSIRO and national and international universities”, said Dr Walker.
“A lot of these people will be collecting data for a range of
other related activities including bushfires, forestry mapping,
carbon mapping and so on.”
For more information visit www.civag.unimelb.edu.au
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