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Forecasting California Agricultural Water Needs Ramakrishna Nemani & the ECOCAST Team NASA/Ames Research Center Moffett Field, Calif. http://ecocast.arc.nasa.gov Earth System Science at 20 Symposium June 23, 2009. Water in California. Agriculture uses nearly 80% of water resources
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Forecasting California Agricultural Water Needs Ramakrishna Nemani & the ECOCAST TeamNASA/Ames Research CenterMoffett Field, Calif.http://ecocast.arc.nasa.govEarth System Science at 20 SymposiumJune 23, 2009
Water in California • Agriculture uses nearly 80% of water resources • California currently in third year of drought, with snowpack at 63% of normal (as of May 8) • Large areas of Central valley are left fallow due to water shortages • Current conditions likely to be typical of future as climate change begins to impact state water supply • Studies showed better information on irrigation scheduling increased crop yields (8%) and reduced water use (13%) We need large scale adoption of the water saving technologies
Forecasting Irrigation Demand Canopy density from imagery Crop data from Variety Weather data from CIMIS Weather forecasts from NWS Irrigation Forecasts for grapevines in Napa and Central Valleys
Next Steps … • Expanding the study to other regions and crops • Use of wireless sensor networks will facilitate soil moisture monitoring and weather conditions for use in calibration and validation of irrigation forecasts • Constellation of satellites providing regular crop assessment • Delivering and gathering crop information via mobile phones