Abstract
This data set was compiled in support of the manuscript entitled “A Geographical Survey of Center Pivot Irrigation Systems in the Central and Southern High Plains Aquifer Region of the United States” submitted to the <i>Applied Engineering in Agriculture</i> journal. This polygon data set represents all center pivots in the Central and Southern High Plains (Ogallala) Aquifer of the United States, where rapid groundwater depletion is threatening the future of irrigated agriculture. Specifically, this data set provides detailed information on the number, area, and spatial distribution of center pivot systems. The World Imagery base map available through the ArcGIS (version 10.8.0, Esri, CA, USA) was used as the reference for manual digitization of center pivots across the study area. The World Imagery base map includes imagery obtained by GeoEye-1 and WorldView-2, -3 and -4 satellite sensors at 0.3‒0.5 m spatial resolution, which made the center pivots and their components (i.e. pivot point, main pipe, wheal tracks, and swing arms) discernible. Our data set will potentially provide valuable and highly accurate information for many field-level applications, including but not limited to studying irrigation uniformity and its dynamics during the season, developing variable rate irrigation prescriptions, improved watershed hydrologic and environmental simulations, and irrigation energy requirement and greenhouse gas emission estimations across the study area.<br>
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
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)
CENTER PIVOT CHARACTERISTICS The distribution of center pivots was spatially variable across the study area, with the highest density of center pivots found in areas with the greatest saturated thicknesses and groundwater level declines, similar to observations of Deines et al (2019)
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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