Soil & Water Res., 2023, 18(4):246-268 | DOI: 10.17221/60/2023-SWR

Seasonal variations of vegetative indices and their correlation with evapotranspiration and soil water storage in a small agricultural catchmentOriginal Paper

Tailin Li ORCID...1*, Massimiliano Schiavo ORCID...2, David Zumr ORCID...1
1 Department of Landscape Water Conservation, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Czech Technical University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic
2 Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile e Ambientale, Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy

A precise measurement of evapotranspiration (ET) and soil water storage (SWS) is necessary for crop management and understanding hydrological processes in agricultural catchments. In this study, we extracted the vegetative indices (VIs, including normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI), soil-adjusted vegetation index (SAVI), and enhanced vegetation index (EVI)) from satellite images of the Nuèice catchment. We found a consistent seasonal pattern of VIs across the catchment with higher values and variation ranges during spring and summer and lower values and variation ranges during autumn and winter. Spatial variation of VIs also followed a seasonal trend, decreasing during crop growth and increasing after crop harvesting. Seasonal correlations were observed between monthly average ET and SWS with VIs throughout one crop season, which can be expressed mathematically as exponential functions. We propose that VIs can be used as a surrogate measure for ET and SWS in catchments with poor monitoring capabilities. Further studies are required to investigate the spatial distribution of ET and SWS throughout the watershed and their relationship with VIs. Furthermore, our research emphasises the importance of subsurface recharge in the water balance of the investigated fields. It suggests that subsurface flow may be influenced by potential gradients of the water table, driving its seasonal behaviour in response to bedrock morphology.

Keywords: catchment hydrology; remote sensing; soil moisture; water balance

Received: June 21, 2023; Revised: August 23, 2023; Accepted: September 5, 2023; Prepublished online: October 3, 2023; Published: October 30, 2023  Show citation

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Li T, Schiavo M, Zumr D. Seasonal variations of vegetative indices and their correlation with evapotranspiration and soil water storage in a small agricultural catchment. Soil & Water Res. 2023;18(4):246-268. doi: 10.17221/60/2023-SWR.
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