Abstract
HighlightsAll center pivot irrigation systems in the Central and Southern High Plains Aquifer region were digitized.Out of 2.76 Mha under center pivots, the largest portion (58%) was in Texas and the smallest (2%) in Colorado.Most center pivots were about 50 ha, with a range of 1 to >230 ha.The new layer can be used in extracting distributed soil, weather, and crop data for various precision agriculture applications.Abstract. With the declines in water levels of the Central and Southern High Plains Aquifer, there is a critical need to accurately map the irrigated agriculture in this region as it is the largest user of groundwater resources. The goal of this study was to develop a geospatial database of all areas under the most dominant irrigation system in the region: center pivots. The borders of all center pivots (50,116) were manually digitized using high spatial resolution satellite imagery, delineating the area that can be potentially irrigated by these systems. Most center pivots were comparable in size (ca. 50 ha), with a range of 1 to >230 ha. The areas of digitized center pivots at the state and study area levels were relatively close to estimates of two actual irrigated area products based on automatic land classification. The new layer was also used to extract available data on groundwater level changes since predevelopment (before 1950). Aquifer regions under center pivots in Colorado and Texas had the smallest and largest declines in water level, respectively. The new layer offers advantages in terms of accurately identifying the area covered by center pivots and has potential research and practical applications such as studying adopted practices in response to water level declines, assessing field-scale irrigation uniformity, and extracting distributed soil, weather, and crop data to be used in various precision agriculture applications. The new layer is freely available to the public as supplemental information of this article (https://doi.org/10.13031/14707284). Keywords: Groundwater decline, Irrigated fields, Ogallala, Sprinkler irrigation.
Highlights
The High Plains Aquifer (HPA), known as the Ogallala aquifer, underlies approximately 450,000 km2 of land in parts of eight states from Texas to South Dakota
The new layer offers advantages in terms of accurately identifying the area covered by center pivots and has potential research and practical applications such as studying adopted practices in response to water level declines, assessing field-scale irrigation uniformity, and extracting distributed soil, weather, and crop data to be used in various precision agriculture applications
Considering the challenges of automatic land classification and the importance of having an accurate estimate of irrigated area in the Central High Plains (CHP) and Southern High Plains (SHP), where consistent declines in water levels have been recorded for the past several decades, the goal of the present study was to develop a geodatabase of center pivots in this region by manually digitizing the spatially variable boundaries of these systems using high-resolution (0.30.5 m) imagery and geographic information systems (GIS)
Summary
The High Plains Aquifer (HPA), known as the Ogallala aquifer, underlies approximately 450,000 km of land in parts of eight states from Texas to South Dakota. Considering the challenges of automatic land classification and the importance of having an accurate estimate of irrigated area in the Central High Plains (CHP) and Southern High Plains (SHP), where consistent declines in water levels have been recorded for the past several decades, the goal of the present study was to develop a geodatabase of center pivots in this region by manually digitizing the spatially variable boundaries of these systems using high-resolution (0.30.5 m) imagery and geographic information systems (GIS). The main difference between this database and previously developed irrigated cropland maps is that the new vector layer identifies the area covered by center pivot systems, but not necessarily irrigated by them This database of area potentially irrigated by center pivots can be used along with the actual irrigated area, as determined by land classification, in research applications such as studying changes in farming practices in response to water shortages (e.g., irrigating part of the center pivots, changing crop patterns, etc.). It can be useful in ground-truthing and assessing the performance of future land classification efforts
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