Technical Studies

Water Footprint (WFP) is a recently developed indicator to identify the fate and distribution of the fresh water resource. Green WFP is referred to total rainwater evapotranspiration plus the amount of water incorporating in a product, and is mainly contributed to agricultural and forestry product. Rice is the main crop in Taiwan, and the irrigation water withdrawn from ground- or surface water (i.e. Blue water) to the rice paddle is the most significant consumption part of fresh water. As a result, it is important to identify the amount of green water in rice growing stage. However, to measuring the crop evapotranspiration is critical due to redundant and costive field measurement. This study would like to apply one of the state-of-the art geospatial information technologies, i.e. remote sensing incorporating moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) to facilitate the measurement of crop evapotranspiration (ET_c), and eventually to estimate the rice green WFP. The results are expected to quantity the visual water of the rice and for reference in water resource and agricultural management.