Using a regional version of the AquaCrop model to simulate crop biomass and soil moisture: an evaluation with remote sensing data products

A shift to more sustainable land cultivation practices is necessary to meet the future crop demand, which faces a vastly growing population and changing climatic conditions. To assess which management practices can be effectively applied at a regional scale, good spatial monitoring techniques are required. With a regional version of the AquaCrop model v6.1, we simulate crop biomass production and soil moisture at a 1-km resolution over Europe. Biomass productivity is compared against the Dry Matter Productivity of the Copernicus Global Land Service, derived from optical satellite sensors, while surface moisture content is evaluated with Sentinel-1 and SMAP microwave satellite retrieval products and inter-compared with in situ data. We show that the AquaCrop model can successfully be applied at a relatively fine resolution over a large scale, using global input data.

This research is part of a H2020 project, named SHui. SHui is a collaborative effort between Universities from Europe and China, with the overall aim of managing water scarcity in cropping systems for individuals as well as stakeholder organizations.