User Handbook Earth Observation for Eastern Partnership ESRIN/Contract No. 4000117356/16/I-NB

Author: GeoPulse Page 1/7 ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

USER HANDBOOK

Agriculture productivity monitoring service, Armenia/Georgia

1. Service structure overview

After login, the Dashboard is displayed. It contains basic information and system status. The main menu which gives

access to modules is available at the top bar.

Illustration 1. Dashboard visible after the login. Main menu is marked with a red circle.

Table 1. Modules of the Internet Service and their respective functions.

Module Main functions

Primary modules

Productivity

Tracking overall crop productivity in a region

Understanding the impact of weather and climate

Predicting yields of the main crops (wheat)

Water Users

Monitoring of patterns of irrigated area

Ranking water users and land parcels according to apparent water use

Identifying individual users in space and monitoring of their performance

Leakage analysis Monitoring of vegetation behaviour along irrigation channels

Automated alarms linked to vegetation change

Secondary modules

Dashboard System status, introduction

Regions Listing of monitored areas

Channels Listing of monitored channels/rivers

User Handbook Earth Observation for Eastern Partnership ESRIN/Contract No. 4000117356/16/I-NB

Author: GeoPulse Page 2/7 ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. Module Productivity

The module Productivity consists of the upper part which handles maps, and the lower part which summarises

information as graphs and a table. The two parts are linked in a way that choosing a data layer in the mapping part

(a drop-down below the main menu, upper-right corner), or clicking on a polygon, triggers the display of linked graphs

and tables.

The mapping part includes the data layer selection panel on the left and a set of tools located near the upper-right corner

of the map. The list of data layers is given in a table below.

Illustration 2. The module Productivity – default layout.

Table 2. Data layers of the Productivity module available as maps.

Data layer Description

RGB Red-Green-Blue or “true colour” preview of the satellite image

NDVI Normalised Difference Vegetation Index

NDVI season Across-season average NDVI

NDWI Normalised Difference Water Index

Classification L2 Crop classification (provided by GISAT company)

Display of the Classification L2 layer (crop type map) is shown in Illustration 3.

User Handbook Earth Observation for Eastern Partnership ESRIN/Contract No. 4000117356/16/I-NB

Author: GeoPulse Page 3/7 ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Illustration 3. The module Productivity – layout of the crop map display.

Illustration 4. Close-up of the Productivity module part where the tools are located. 1. Geolocation (displays current position), 2. Split screen (allows display of two layers on a map), 3. Labels (displays names within monitored areas borders), 4. Download, 5. Basemap, 6. Full screen, 7. Zoom.

The bottom part of the Productivity module consists of a set of switches for different time series listed in Table 3 below.

In addition, there is a table which provides seasonal statistics linked to season length and overall productivity.

User Handbook Earth Observation for Eastern Partnership ESRIN/Contract No. 4000117356/16/I-NB

Author: GeoPulse Page 4/7 ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Table 3. Data layers of the Productivity module available as time series of average measurements.

Data layer Description Source

EVI Red-Green-Blue or “true colour” preview of the satellite image Satellite (MODIS)

Temperature Normalised Difference Vegetation Index Meteo station / model

GDD Growing Degree Days Meteo station / model

Precipitation Precipitation Meteo station / model

Cumulative Precipitation

Precipitation accumulated since the beginning of the year Meteo station / model

ET Evapotranspiration Meteo station / model

SMD Soil Moisture Deficit Meteo station / model + EVI (satellite)

Crops Crop type statistics from GISAT Sentinel-2

The Productivity module enables exploration of linked spatial and temporal patterns of vegetation growth. In order to

assess whole pre-defined monitored areas, they need to be chosen from the drop-down menu in the top-right module. In

addition, some approximation of productivity of separate crop types is given based on crop map derived by GISAT. These

examples are given as separate layers. Seasonal statistics (also proxies for crop productivity) are given in a table and can

be downloaded. For parts of Kakheti wheat productivity is expressed in mean yield (t/ha), based on calibration data

provided by the country.

In order to download data pertaining to a chosen monitored area the User needs to click on the Download tool

(Illustration 4). This triggers an export of a single zip file with contents listed in Illustration 5.

Illustration 5. Preview of the contents of data exported with the Download tool. 1. NDVI maps from the Landsat satellites; 2. RBG layers from the Landsat satellites; 3. NDVI maps from the Sentinel-2 satellites; 4. NDWI layers from the Sentinel-2 satellites; 5. RBG layers from the Sentinel-2 satellites; 6. KML (Google Earth) file with the monitored area outline; 7. Comma Separated Values (csv) file with time series data; 8. Shape file with the monitored area outline.

User Handbook Earth Observation for Eastern Partnership ESRIN/Contract No. 4000117356/16/I-NB

Author: GeoPulse Page 5/7 ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. Module Water Users

The main layout of the Water Users module consists of a table which can be scrolled both vertically (across water users

and land parcels) as well as horizontally (to assess measurements at various points in time). It enables direct

comparisons between monitored parcels/users and, importantly, ranking them according to apparent productivity/water

use/water deficit, as well as discrepancy between the weather-defined water demand and actual apparent water use. All

columns of the table can be used for sorting of the users/parcels, while the most useful columns are the summary

statistics located on the right end of the table.

Illustration 6. Preview of the default display of the module Water Users.

In order to Check location and history of a chosen water user, the application user needs to click on a name, which brings

up a panel shown in Illustration 7.

Illustration 7. Preview of the module Water Users in the mode allowing a preview of a chosen user/parcel location and history.

User Handbook Earth Observation for Eastern Partnership ESRIN/Contract No. 4000117356/16/I-NB

Author: GeoPulse Page 6/7 ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4. Module Leakage Analysis

Module Leakage Analysis is a meant for the assessment of vegetation performance along an irrigation channel, as a proxy

for water availability throughout that channel. In the provided example (Illustration 8), the northern part of the channel

is used for irrigation, while the southern part cuts across a relatively barren landscape. Anomalies in water provision at

the spatial scale of on order of ~1 km are expected to manifest themselves in anomalies of vegetation robustness. It is

worth noting that these changes need to be separated from the phenology-driven oscillations. The changes can be

visualised both on a map, as well as on the upper graph (taller bars on the left correspond to the northern part of the

channel). In order to access the history of vegetation growth (the bottom chart) in a given location, the User needs to click

on it either on a map or on the upper graph.

Illustration 8. The default view of the module Leakage Analysis.

The Module can be used to set an alarm triggered by vegetation change. This is done through the top-left panel, which is

also shown in Illustration 9. Defining an alarm requires (1) giving it a name, (2) a choice if the system needs to look for an

ascending (>=) or descending (<=) trend, and (3) specifying threshold value of the vegetation index after which the alarm

is triggered. The defined alarms can be deactivated or activated again by the user. If the threshold is breached then the

User is notified by email.

User Handbook Earth Observation for Eastern Partnership ESRIN/Contract No. 4000117356/16/I-NB

Author: GeoPulse Page 7/7 ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Illustration 9. The panel, of the Leakage Analysis module, for setting up of alarms (email notifications), triggered when satellite-recorded vegetation index in a chosen location breaches a threshold chosen by the User. The notification will happen specifically only when the index drops to a threshold (i.e. reduction in vegetation robustness /photosynthetic activity) or only when it rises to the threshold (i.e. increase in photosynthetic activity).