{"id":59549,"date":"2021-07-20T11:15:09","date_gmt":"2021-07-20T09:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.irta.cat\/noticia\/lleidas-agricultural-model-in-the-spotlight-in-an-international-study-on-climate-prediction-and-water-management-in-farming\/"},"modified":"2024-11-06T10:01:22","modified_gmt":"2024-11-06T09:01:22","slug":"lleidas-agricultural-model-in-the-spotlight-in-an-international-study-on-climate-prediction-and-water-management-in-farming","status":"publish","type":"noticia","link":"https:\/\/www.irta.cat\/en\/noticia\/lleidas-agricultural-model-in-the-spotlight-in-an-international-study-on-climate-prediction-and-water-management-in-farming\/","title":{"rendered":"Lleida\u2019s agricultural model in the spotlight in an international study on climate prediction and water management in farming"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/a>
IRTA drone, ready to fly over the terrain (source: IRTA, CC BY-NC)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7 Scientists from NASA, the European Space Agency and France\u2019s National Centre for Meteorological Research, among other international organizations, are working in different towns in Pla d\u2019Urgell to study the effects of climate change on demand for water for crops<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7 Today has seen the presentation of a range of meteorological measurement and Earth observation equipment being used as part of LIAISE, an international project whose participants include the Institute of Agrifood Research and Technology and the Meteorological Service of Catalonia<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7 LIAISE will improve evaporation and precipitation forecasts in semi-arid environments and provide tools for managing irrigation water more efficiently in semi-arid regions in the Mediterranean basin<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Pla d\u2019Urgell region (Lleida) is currently a hive of scientific teams from research centres, universities, and meteorological and space agencies from different countries. The scientists arrived a few weeks ago and will be spending the summer studying how agriculture in a semi-arid climate affects different meteorological variables and how weather forecasting and climate prediction models for such regions can be improved. They are also assessing various Earth observation technologies capable of quantifying crop water consumption and surface soil moisture. Led by France\u2019s National Centre for Meteorological Research (CNRM) and involving a number of Catalan institutions, including the Institute of Agrifood Research and Technology (IRTA) and the Meteorological Service of Catalonia (SMC), the mission in question is part of the LIAISE (Land surface Interactions with the Atmosphere over the Iberian Semi-arid Environment<\/em>) project, which has been presented today in Mollerussa and Linyola.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Pla d\u2019Urgell and the Mediterranean basin\u2019s other semi-arid regions, water evaporates faster than it does elsewhere. That is a result of crop type heterogeneity and irrigation, and can affect the atmosphere, altering rainfall and low cloud formation. \u201cCurrent weather forecasting models are not completely accurate in such semi-arid regions, so we need to find out more about how different land uses interact with the atmosphere and evaluate their impact on the processes that generate clouds and summer storms,\u201d says Josep Ramon Mir\u00f3<\/strong> from the SMC\u2019s Applied Research and Modelling Division. Furthermore, there is a shortage of data showing how to manage irrigation in such regions in a future marked by climate change, where fresh water for crops will be in greater demand but shorter supply. \u201cWe must learn to manage water and we need technological tools that tell us more precisely how much of it we will be able to use in an increasingly dry future,\u201d remarks Joaquim Bellvert<\/strong>, a researcher from IRTA\u2019s Efficient Use of Water in Agriculture programme. \u201cWe also need to evaluate the effects of dams and river flows on local climate and what they will be in a climate change scenario,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
From left to right: Edward J. Kim, from the NASA Hydrological Sciences Laboratory; Joaquim Bellvert, researcher of the Efficient use of Water in Agriculture programme at IRTA; Joan Girona, IRTA delegate in Lleida and the Pyrenees; Aaron Boone, researcher at the National Centre for Meteorological Research (CNRM); Josep Ramon Mir\u00f3, technician of the Applied Research and Modelling Area of the SMC, and Eliseu Vilaclara, director of the SMC. (source: IRTA, CC BY-NC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

IRTA\u2019s specialized knowledge of irrigation and the involvement of local people have been factors in the choice of Lleida\u2019s agricultural model for the studies the international mission entails. \u201cPla d\u2019Urgell is a semi-arid region with many different types of crops and a wide variety of irrigation systems; it is an ideal setting for improving the climate prediction and irrigation models we need and extrapolating them to a global scale,\u201d explains Joan Girona<\/strong>, IRTA\u2019s institutional representative in Lleida and the Pyrenees. \u201cCatalonia is perfectly suited to international research campaigns of this kind due to the density and quality of the SMC\u2019s observation and remote-sensing networks,\u201d states Eliseu Vilaclara<\/strong>, director of the SMC. \u201cThis underlines the worth of the experimental campaigns the SMC has been carrying out since the early 20th<\/sup> century; 2021 is actually our centenary year,\u201d he continues. \u201cWe hope this project will enhance our working WRF mesoscale model thanks to improved characterization of evapotranspiration and precipitation in transition areas between dry and irrigated land.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

IRTA and the SMC are participating in LIAISE alongside local businesses, institutions and individuals (SAF Sampling, Cooperativa Ivars, Bold\u00fa Viticultors, Preixana Municipal Council, Josep M. Berenguer, Josep M. Trib\u00f3 and Jaume Duart), as well as research groups from the following agencies and institutions: NASA; SAFIRE; the European Space Agency (ESA); the Met Office and King\u2019s College London (UK); M\u00e9t\u00e9o-France, CNRM, CNRS, CESBIO, the University of Toulouse and the \u00c9cole Polytechnique of Paris (France); Wageningen University, Utrecht University and Delft University (Netherlands); the J\u00fclich Research Centre and the University of Hohenheim (Germany); the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB); the University of Barcelona (UB); CzechGlobe (Czech Republic); the Government of Catalonia\u2019s Firefighting Service; and the Ebro Observatory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

How can the water crops consume be quantified?<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Images from some satellites can be very useful for quantifying the water crops consume \u2014 referred to as evapotranspiration<\/em> \u2014 and surface soil moisture. \u201cCombining climate predictions with information about the amount of water crops use will provide a vital tool for managing irrigation water more efficiently, for individual smallholdings and irrigation user communities alike,\u201d said the mission\u2019s coordinator, CNRM researcher Aaron Boone<\/strong>, speaking at the project\u2019s presentation. \u201cThe campaign will therefore also involve evaluating different remote-sensing techniques for obtaining more precise information and achieving even greater efficiency in water management, with a view to ensuring the global sustainability of production and environmental systems,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To that end, NASA, SAFIRE and the ESA will be flying aircraft equipped with thermal, radar and hyperspectral sensors over the region in the coming days to calculate evapotranspiration, surface soil moisture and crop photosynthesis levels. The information obtained will be used for future space missions. IRTA, meanwhile, will be contributing to validation work by taking measurements on the ground, in addition to using the images provided to validate existing satellite image-based models of the region\u2019s evapotranspiration, with the aim of subsequently being able to forecast water demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Probe balloon (source: IRTA, CC BY-NC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The other equipment installed in the various study areas in Pla d\u2019Urgell makes it possible to measure the amount of water used for crops, as well as to characterize the behaviour of different meteorological variables at different heights in the atmosphere, from soil level to the boundary layer. The equipment in question notably includes IRTA\u2019s lysimeter station in Mollerussa, one of the few set-ups of its kind in the world, which measures crop water consumption by means of a weighing system. There are also a number of eddy-covariance flux towers and scintillometers, which can be used to measure water and carbon dioxide fluxes and determine their directions. Other instruments, including WindRASS or UHF equipment, use ultrasound to take vertical wind and air temperature measurements at different heights.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":44026,"template":"","categoria_noticia":[],"etiqueta_filtrar_noticia":[7850,7877,7815],"class_list":["post-59549","noticia","type-noticia","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","etiqueta_filtrar_noticia-gestio-aigua","etiqueta_filtrar_noticia-ponent-terres-de-lleida","etiqueta_filtrar_noticia-reg"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\r\nLleida\u2019s agricultural model in the spotlight in an international study on climate prediction and water management in farming » IRTA<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.irta.cat\/en\/noticia\/lleidas-agricultural-model-in-the-spotlight-in-an-international-study-on-climate-prediction-and-water-management-in-farming\/\" 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