Remote Sensing-Remote Sensing Applications

Irrigation management

MODULE 8 LECTURE NOTES 3

REMOTE SENSING APPLICATIONS IN IRRIGATION MANAGEMENT
1. Introduction
Irrigation is the largest consumer of fresh water. Achieving food security through irrigation
and to ensure sustainable agriculture, combating water logging and salinization requires
quantitative and repetitive analysis of the irrigation processes. Remote sensing from space,
which can regularly provide objective information on the agricultural and hydrological
conditions of irrigated area, has a great potential for enhancing the management of irrigation
systems. Remote sensing applications in irrigation management range from water availability
studies in the catchment to the salinity studies in the command area as shown in Fig.1.

Fig. 1 Remote sensing applications in irrigation management

This lecture gives an overview of the potential remote sensing applications in irrigation
management with the help of two case studies.

Case Study 1 Rajolibanda Diversion Scheme (RDS)

Case Study 2 Bhadra Command Area

D Nagesh Kumar, IISc, Bangalore

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Remote Sensing-Remote Sensing Applications

Irrigation management

2. Remote sensing for irrigation management

In irrigation management, remote sensing is used as a tool to collect spatial and temporal
variations

in

the hydro-meteorological

parameters, crop characteristics

and soil

characteristics. Some of the important applications of remote sensing in irrigation

management are listed below.
Assessment of water availability in reservoirs for optimal management of water to
meet the irrigation demand
Identifying, inventorying and assessment of irrigated crops
Determination of irrigation water demand over space and time
Distinguishing land irrigated by surface water bodies and by ground water
withdrawals
Estimation of crop yield
Study on water logging and salinity problems in irrigated lands
Irrigation scheduling based on water availability and water demand
Evapotranspiration studies
Irrigation system performance evaluation
2.1 Crop classification and identification of the irrigated areas
Crop classification using the satellite remote sensing images is one of the most common
applications of remote sensing in agriculture and irrigation management. Multiple images
corresponding to various cropping periods are generally used for this purpose. The spectral
reflectance values observed in various bands of the images are related to specific crops with
the help of ground truth data. Also, satellite images of frequent time intervals are used to
capture the temporal variations in the spectral signature, using which the crop stages are
identified. Table 1 gives a sample list of spectral signatures, observed in the standard FCC,
for different crops during different growth stages. Fig. 2 shows an example in which the
paddy crops and non-paddy crops are differentiated using remote sensing images.

D Nagesh Kumar, IISc, Bangalore

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Remote Sensing-Remote Sensing Applications

Irrigation management

Table 1. Spectral signatures of different crops in different growth stages

Fig. 2 Example for the crop type classification using remote sensing images

Identification of the irrigated area from the satellite images is based on the assessment of the
crop health (using vegetation indices such as Normalized Differential Vegetation Index,
NDVI) and the soil moisture condition. Irrigation water demand of the crops is defined by the
actual evapotranspiration (ET) and the soil moisture availability. Remote sensing application
in the estimation of irrigation water demand employs the estimation of ET by using the plant
bio-physical parameters and the atmospheric parameters, and the soil moisture condition.
Table 2 gives a list of crop bio-physical parameters and their application in irrigation
management. Table 3 lists the capability of the remote sensing techniques in estimating these
parameters.

D Nagesh Kumar, IISc, Bangalore

M8L3

Remote Sensing-Remote Sensing Applications

Irrigation management

Table 2. List of crop bio-physical parameters and their application in irrigation management

Table 3. Capability of the remote sensing techniques in estimating crop bio-physical

parameters

Performance of the irrigation system is generally evaluated using indices such as relative
water supply and relative irrigation supply. Bastiaanssen et al. (1998) has listed a set of
irrigation performance indices derived with the help of the remote sensing data. Soil-adjusted
vegetation index (SAVI), NDVI, transformed vegetation index (TVI), normalized difference
wetness index (NDWI), green vegetation index (GVI) are a few of them.

D Nagesh Kumar, IISc, Bangalore

M8L3

Remote Sensing-Remote Sensing Applications

Irrigation management

3. Case study-1 Rajolibanda Diversion Scheme (RDS)

RDS is an inter-state major irrigation project between Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh located
on the Tungabhadra river in Krishna river basin, upstream of Srisailam project. Fig.3 shows
the index map of the RDS.

Fig. 3. Index map of the RDS in Andhra Pradesh

Salient features of the project are the following.

143 km long left bank main canal

Initial 42.6 km in Karnataka consisting of 12 distributaries

Distributaries 12A to 40 in Andhra Pradesh

Ayacut of 35,410 ha
o Kharif Season - 14,215 ha.
o Rabi Season

- 19,332 ha

o Perennial Crops

- 1,863 ha.

However, due to the excessive water utilization in its catchment area in Karnataka the RDS
barrage is not receiving adequate continuous flows. The associated problems in the command
area are the following.

Source of water supply is located in another state

Water releases reducing in magnitude (annually)

o Cultivation of paddy in head reaches

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Remote Sensing-Remote Sensing Applications

Irrigation management

o Mid and tail end reaches receiving insufficient water supplies leading to
violations of Command Area Development tenets.
o Due to insufficient water availability in the tail end stretches, reduced crop
acreages are reported, with portions of irrigated dry (I.D) crops subjected to
moisture stress.
Fig. 4 shows the standard FCC of the satellite image obtained from the IRS-1B LISS-II
sensor.

Fig. 4 FCC of the RDS area obtained from the IRS-1B LISS-II image
Table 4 shows the distributory-wise crop areas in the RDS command area using satellite
remote sensing techniques as well as the field reports, against the authorized area. The extents
given in the table show an increase in paddy crops in the head regions and fall in the same
towards the tail end of the command area. Also, a large difference is visible between the field
reported and the satellite assessed areas.

D Nagesh Kumar, IISc, Bangalore

M8L3

Remote Sensing-Remote Sensing Applications

Irrigation management

Table 4: Distributary-wise Crop-group Areas (ha) during Kharif season in 1992

Fig. 5 shows the distributory-wise authorized and actual irrigation intensities in the RDS
command area. It shows that though the area authorized for I.D crops is high in the tail end of
the command area, the actual areas under irrigation is much less, mostly due to the lack of
sufficient water.

Fig.5 Distributory-wise irrigation intensity

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Remote Sensing-Remote Sensing Applications

Irrigation management

Fig. 6 shows the standard FCC of the RDS command area in Rabi Season (1991-92),
obtained from the IRS LISS-II images.

Fig. 6. Standard FCC of the RDS command area in Rabi Season (1991-92)

Irrigation requirement of the entire command area was calculated using the crop area
information extracted using the remote sensing image as well as the same gathered from the
field, for the Kharif season in 1991. Both are plotted in Fig.7. In addition, the actual
accumulated release in the RDS for the same period is plotted in Fig. 8.
In Fig. 9 the actual releases are compared with the estimated releases.

D Nagesh Kumar, IISc, Bangalore

M8L3

Remote Sensing-Remote Sensing Applications

Irrigation management

Fig. 7 Accumulated water requirement

estimated for the Kharif season in 1991

Fig. 8 Actual accumulated release

for the Kharif season in 1991

Fig. 9 Comparison of the accumulated water demand and the actual release
The comparison shows that the accumulated release estimated for the satellite assessed crop
areas matches with the actual releases. The accumulated irrigation demand estimated using
the field reported crop areas is much less compared to the actual releases. This indicates that
the satellite assessed crop area is more accurate than the field reported information. The study
thus shows the potential of remote sensing in irrigated area assessment.

D Nagesh Kumar, IISc, Bangalore

M8L3

Remote Sensing-Remote Sensing Applications

Irrigation management

4. Case Study 2. Irrigation Management in Bhadra Project Command Area,

Karnataka
Bhadra dam is located on the Bhadra River, which is a tributary of the Tungabhadra River in
the Chickmagaluru District in Karnataka. Fig.10 shows he location map of the Bhadra
command area.

Fig. 10. Location map of the Bhadra command area

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Remote Sensing-Remote Sensing Applications

Irrigation management

Bhadra reservoir system consists of a storage reservoir with a capacity of 2025 M m 3, a left
bank canal and a right bank canal with irrigable areas of 7,031 ha and 92,360 ha respectively.
The command area is divided into three administrative divisions, viz., Bhadravati,
Malebennur and Davangere. Major crops cultivated in the command area are Paddy, Semidry crops and Sugarcane. The Bhadra Dam was commissioned in 1965 and was included
under the National Water Management Project (NWMP) in 1988.
In

this

case

study

the

agricultural scenario in the

command area before and
after

the

NWMP

were

analyzed. IRS LISS-I data

(Path-row: 27-58 & 27-59)
were used for the analysis.
Fig. 11 shows IRS-1A image
of the Bhadra Command Area
on 27th April 1993

Fig. 11 IRS-1A image of the

Bhadra Command Area on
27th April 1993

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Remote Sensing-Remote Sensing Applications

Irrigation management

Since paddy transplantation was staggered across the command area, satellite data of any one
date was not sufficient to represent the same growth stage at all locations. In view of this
heterogeneity in crop calendar, in order to obtain complete estimate of area under any crop as
well as to ensure better discrimination, satellite data of three dates were used to reflect the
following features.
1. When only semi-dry crops exist (image of 20th February, 1993)
2. When paddy was being transplanted with semi-dry crops already sufficiently grown
(image of 14th March, 1993)
3. At the time of maximum ground cover and canopy growth of Paddy (image of 16th
April, 1993 shown in Fig. 3).
Fig. 12 shows the FCCs of the Bhadra Command Area derived from the satellite images for
the months February, March and April.

(a) 20th February 1993

(b) 14th March 1993

(c) 16th April 1993

Fig. 12 FCCs of the Bhadra Command Area derived from the satellite images

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Remote Sensing-Remote Sensing Applications

Irrigation management

4.1 Crop classification using multi-temporal images

In the real ground scenario, it is difficult to differentiate the boundaries between different
classes or phenomena. A single land unit (pixel) may consist of more than one type of land
cover, as shown in Fig. 13. The boundaries are rather fuzzy than the hypothetical crisp
classification. In such cases, conventional classification algorithms may fail to extract the
information from a pixel, because heterogeneity is not considered.

Fig. 13 Concept of a mixed pixel in remote sensing

A fuzzy classification is more appropriate for handling the fuzziness in the boundaries. In
fuzzy partition the spectral space is not partitioned by sharp surfaces. A pixel may belong to
a class to some extent and meanwhile belong to another class to another extent. Thus, all the
component classes are properly accounted in a fuzzy classification. A fuzzy partition of
spectral space can represent a real situation better than a hard partition and allows more
spectral information to be utilized in subsequent analysis.
Classification of Semi-dry crops with single date imagery
Penalized Fuzzy C-Means (PFCM) algorithm (Nagesh Kumar, 2009) was implemented on
the 20th February and 14th March multi-spectral images separately to identify semi-dry
crops. Fig.14 shows the classified land use map for the Bhadra Command Area showing the
semi-dry crops. Table 5 shows the accuracy of semi-dry crop classification.

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Remote Sensing-Remote Sensing Applications

Irrigation management

(a) 20th February 1993

(b) 14th March 1993

Fig. 14 Classified land use map for the Bhadra Command Area

Table 5. Accuracy of semi-dry crop classification.

Available
ground truth

Correctly
Classified

20th Feb, 1993

86

84

98

14th Mar, 1993

86

82

95

Date

Misclassified Accuracy (%)

Classification of Paddy and Semi-dry crops using multi-date imagery

Using 14th March data, paddy locations were mostly classified into water cluster because at
that time paddy is just transplanted in most of the areas and therefore; water is dominating
compared to the crop seedlings.
Therefore, 16th April data was also used for classifying the paddy areas. NIR (near infrared)
band data of the three dates were used for the paddy area identification. Classified map

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Remote Sensing-Remote Sensing Applications

Irrigation management

showing paddy and semi-dry crop areas obtained from multi-date NIR band imageries are
shown in Fig. 15. The method was found to be giving 90-95% accuracy in the classification
of paddy and semi-dry crops (Table 6). Satellite derived cropping pattern for the Bhadra
Command area are given in Table 7.

Fig.15
Crop classification from multi-temporal imagery
using PFCM algorithm

Table 6.

Table 7. Cropping pattern for the Bhadra Command area

Division

Paddy

Bhadravathi
Malabennur
Davengere

9,290 (58%)
25,604 (81%)
25,869 (66%)

D Nagesh Kumar, IISc, Bangalore

Non Paddy

15

Total

7,330 (42%) 17,250

6,134 (19%) 31,738
13,567 (34%) 39,436

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Remote Sensing-Remote Sensing Applications

Irrigation management

Estimation of crop yield using the satellite images and the field information
Crop yield depends on the crop health. Therefore vegetation indices (such as Normalized
Difference Vegetation Index, NDVI) representative of the crop health condition find
applications in crop yield simulations.
NDVI = (Reflectance in NIR Red) / (Ref. in NIR + Red)
= (Band 4 - Band 3) / (Band 4 + Band 3) of the IRS LISS-2 imagery
Based on the NDVI derived from the satellite images and the field-based crop yield
information, a regression relation was developed between the two.

Yield = - 5.89 + 0.234 NDVI (S.E.: 0.037)

Using this regression relationship, paddy yield for 1992-93 period was estimated. Table 8
shows the estimated paddy yield in the Malabeenur and the Davangere divisions.
Table 8. Paddy yield estimated using the regression relationship
Division

Paddy yield (quintals/ha)

Malabennur 61.7 to 62.21

Davangere 51.66 to 52.14

These case studies show the potential of the satellite remote sensing data in irrigation
management.

Bibliography / Further Reading

1. Bastiaanssen WGM, Menenti M, Feddes RA, Holtslag AA (1998). A remote sensing
surface energy balance algorithm for land (SEBAL) J. Hydrol., 212213, pp 198212.
2. Nagesh Kumar D and Reshmidevi TV (2013). Remote sensing applications in water
resources J. Indian Institute of Sci., 93(2), 163-188.

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