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ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #217377
Title: Sensor needs for agricultural and carbon management

Author
item Hunt Jr, Earle
item Daughtry, Craig
item Doraiswamy, Paul
item Serbin, Guy

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/12/2007
Publication Date: 11/27/2007
Citation: Hunt, E.R., Daughtry, C.S., Doraiswamy, P.C., Serbin, G. 2007. Sensor needs for agricultural and carbon management [abstract]. Real Product Innovations, ASRC Management Services and USDA-ARS. 2007 CDROM.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: There is a wide variety of sensors and platforms available for agricultural and carbon management. Two areas of concern are monitoring plant nutrients and crop residue over agricultural watersheds. Excess plant nutrients and agricultural chemicals may runoff into the water supply, degrading water quality. Crop residues protect the soil from erosion, and build up soil organic matter which increases soil fertility and may help in sequestering excess atmospheric carbon dioxide. However, crop residue is a natural resource for production of cellulosic ethanol or simply for cooking fuel. We present methods that allow accurate estimation of chlorophyll concentration and cellulose cover based on biophysical processes. Chlorophyll concentration in leaves is used as a proxy for estimating nutrient contents (particularly nitrogen) and cellulose is the principal component of crop residue. Monitoring these variables would allow action agencies to optimize between production of food, fiber and energy with environmental quality. Narrow multispectral bands in the visible, far red, and short-wave infrared can be used on a moderate-spatial-resolution sensor on a platform that provides global coverage for these monitoring needs.