IrrigaSys: A web-based irrigation decision support system based on open source data and technology

Abstract

IrrigaSys is a decision support system (DSS) for irrigation water management based on online, open source tools. The aim of this paper is to describe the structure of IrrigaSys and how it is implementation at the plot scale. The DSS includes remote access to local meteorological stations for weather conditions, a meteorological model for weather forecast, the MOHID-Land model for the computation of the soil water balance and irrigation scheduling, and a database for data repository. Despite its complexity, the data necessary to run IrrigaSys is minimal, and include as mandatory input information on the location of field plots, crop type, sowing and harvest dates, soil texture, irrigation method, and daily/weekly applied irrigation depths. Based on this information, the system automatically downloads the weather data from the meteorological station located closest to the agricultural plot, as well as the weather forecast for the seven incoming days. The soil water balance is then computed from sowing to the present date (updating always the system with newly acquired information) as well as the recommended irrigation schedule for the incoming week. Results are made available via a web interface, a mobile app, a SMS, and email. The IrrigaSys further provides the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) computed from the most recent Sentinel-2 imagery available with a resolution of 10 m. The IrrigaSys was developed in close cooperation with the Water Board from the Sorraia Valley irrigation district, southern Portugal, supporting 103 plots of 30 farmers over the last 5 years. This stakeholder has been fundamental for successfully running the system. This paper further discusses the main strengths and limitations of IrrigaSys, with the latter being naturally associated to difficulties in providing reliable estimates for all field plots based on limited data.