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ARS Home » Plains Area » Fort Collins, Colorado » Center for Agricultural Resources Research » Water Management and Systems Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #357282
Research Project: Improving the Sustainability of Irrigated Farming Systems in Semi-Arid Regions

Location: Water Management and Systems Research

Title: Thermal video of maize canopy with wind using background subtraction technique

Author
item DeJonge, Kendall
item Gilkerson, Tyler
item Gleason, Sean
item Zhang, Huihui

Submitted to: World Wide Web
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/17/2018
Publication Date: 9/17/2018
Citation: DeJonge, K.C., Gilkerson, T., Gleason, S.M., Zhang, H. 2018. Thermal video of maize canopy with wind using background subtraction technique. World Wide Web. https://figshare.com/articles/Thermal_video_of_maize_canopy_with_wind_using_background_subtraction_technique/7075220

Interpretive Summary: N/A

Technical Abstract: The main experiment, currently in review in Applied Engineering in Agriculture, demonstrates a thermal imaging technique in which the background is set as a sheet of ice, thereby easily separated from the canopy temperature. By isolating the canopy temperature of an individual plant (e.g. maize in this example), we are then able to look at short timescale and high resolution changes in canopy temperature due to various factors (e.g. environmental). This video demonstrates a time series of a fully irrigated maize plant which was set to a steady state for 60 seconds, blown with a fan for 120 seconds, and then recorded for another 120 seconds as it returns to the steady state. This video shows in high detail the resolution found by this technique and the variability among and within individual leaves, as well as the immediate temporal changes in canopy temperature. It is also interesting to note, in the bottom figure, the streaking in the recovery that indicates the changes of individual leaves over time. Further investigation is needed to explore the true meaning of these changes in temperature due to environmental factors, i.e. whether it is simple heat transfer, are there stomatal interactions, does the ice create a boundary layer affecting the canopy temperature, etc. Nonetheless, the potential benefits of this technique as shown in this application are many. Further discussion is given in Applied Engineering in Agriculture.