Establishing a method for estimating crop water requirements using the SEBAL method in Cyprus

Abstract

Water allocation to crops has always been of great importance in agricultural process. In this context, and under the current conditions, where Cyprus is facing a severe drought the last five years, purpose of this study is basically to estimate the needed crop water requirements for supporting irrigation management and monitoring irrigation on a systematic basis for Cyprus using remote sensing techniques. The use of satellite images supported by ground measurements has provided quite accurate results. Intended purpose of this paper is to estimate the Evapotranspiration (ET) of specific crops which is the basis for irrigation scheduling and establish a procedure for monitoring and managing irrigation water over Cyprus, using remotely sensed data from Landsat TM/ ETM+ and a sound methodology used worldwide, the Surface Energy Balance Algorithm for Land (SEBAL). The methodology set in this paper refers to COST action ES1106 (Agri-Wat) for determining crop water requirements as part of the water footprint and virtual water-trade.