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Title: Impact of tile drainage on evapotranspiration in South Dakota, USA based on high spatiotemporal resolution ET timeseries from a multi-satellite data fusion system

Author
item Yang, Yun
item Anderson, Martha
item Gao, Feng
item HAIN, C. - University Of Maryland
item Kustas, William - Bill
item MEYERS, T. - National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
item Crow, Wade
item FINOCCHIARO, R. - Us Geological Survey (USGS)
item OTKIN, J. - University Of Wisconsin
item SUN, L. - US Department Of Agriculture (USDA)
item YANG, YANG - US Department Of Agriculture (USDA)

Submitted to: IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/10/2017
Publication Date: 6/1/2017
Citation: Yang, Y., Anderson, M.C., Gao, F.N., Hain, C., Kustas, W.P., Meyers, T., Crow, W.T., Finocchiaro, R., Otkin, J., Sun, L., Yang, Y. 2017. Impact of tile drainage on evapotranspiration in South Dakota, USA based on high spatiotemporal resolution ET timeseries from a multi-satellite data fusion system. IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing. https://doi.org/10.1109/JSTARS.2017.2680411.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/JSTARS.2017.2680411

Interpretive Summary: Artificial drainage has been widely applied in agricultural lands in the USA, especially in the Corn Belt region of Midwest, to remove excess soil water to provide earlier crop planting, better field accessibility and improved crop yields. Research shows an increasing trend in baseflow and streamflow in the Midwest over the last 60 years, which may be related to artificial drainage. Subsurface drainage in particular may have strong contributed to the increase in these flows because of its extensive use. Many studies have examined the effect of tile drainage on soil temperature, streamflow dynamics, soil nitrogen losses and local water budgets. Relatively few studies have been published investigating the impact of subsurface tile drainage on evapotranspiration (ET), which represents the rate at which soil water is consumed by plants and evaporated to the atmosphere. To explore the spatial and temporal ET patterns and their relationship to tile drainage system installation, we applied an energy balance based multi-satellite sensor data fusion method to estimate daily ET at 30m resolution over an intensively tile drained area in South Dakota, USA from 2005 to 2013. Results suggest that tile drainage slightly decreases annual cumulative ET, particularly during the early growing season. However, higher mid-season crop water use due to higher biomass in drained fields suppresses the extent of the decrease of annual cumulative ET that might be anticipated from wide-spread drainage. A comparison of between daily ET from three fields with known drainage conditions (heavily drained, partially drained and undrained) demonstrates larger impact of tile drainage on ET in growing seasons with wet springs, where snow-melt and ample precipitation lead to excess soil moisture. The results of this study help to improve our understanding of the influence of agricultural drainage practices on the regional hydrology, and can inform future decision making regarding tile drainage systems

Technical Abstract: Soil drainage is a widely used agricultural practice in the Midwest USA to remove excess soil water for better crop yield. Research shows an increasing trend in baseflow and streamflow in the Midwest over the last 60 years, which may be related to artificial drainage. Subsurface drainage (i.e., tile) in particular may have strongly contributed to the increase in these flows because of its extensive use and recent gain in popularity as a yield enhancement practice. However, how evapotranspiration (ET) is impacted by tile drainage on a regional level is not well documented. To explore spatial and temporal ET patterns and their relationship to tile drainage system installation, we applied an energy balance based multi-sensor data fusion method to estimate daily 30 m ET over an intensively tile-drained area in South Dakota, USA from 2005 to 2013. Results suggest that tile drainage slightly decreases annual cumulative ET, particularly during the early growing season. However, higher mid-season crop water use suppresses the extent of the decrease of annual cumulative ET that might be anticipated from wide-spread drainage. Water balance analysis during the growing season demonstrates good balance, with the average residual from 2005 to 2012 as low as -3 mm. As an independent check of simulated ET at the regional scale, the water balance analysis lends additional confidence to the study. The results of this study improve our understanding of the influence of agricultural drainage practices on the regional hydrology, and can inform future decision making regarding tile drainage systems.