Estimating irrigation demand using satellite remote sensing: a case study of Paphos District area in Cyprus Diofantos G. Hadjimitsis* a , Giorgos Papadavid a, Kyriacos Themistokleous a , Anastasis Kounoudes b and Leonidas Toulios c a Department of Civil Engineering & Geomatics, Remote Sensing Laboratory, Cyprus University of Technology, 31 Archbishop Kyprianos, P.O. Box 50329, 3603 Lemesos, Cyprus. b SignalGeneriX Ltd, Limassol, Cyprus c National Agricultural Research Foundation (NAGREF), 1, Theofrastou str., 413 35 GR, Larissa, Greece. ABSTRACT The monitoring of agricultural areas in Cyprus provides important data for efficient water supply plans and for avoiding unnecessary water lost due to inefficient irrigation. In this context, satellite remote sensing techniques may be useful as an efficient tool for monitoring agricultural areas. The objective of this study is to present the overall methodology for monitoring agricultural areas and estimating the irrigation demand in Cyprus using satellite remote sensing, irrigation models and other auxiliary data. Field spectro-radiometric measurements using SVC-HR 1024 and GER 1500 were undertaken to determine the spectral signature of different types of crops so as to assist our classification techniques. Final crop maps using Landsat TM and ETM+ can be produced and the optimal amount of irrigation demand required for certain types of crops can be determined in order to avoid any non-effective water management. This paper presents the overall methodology of the proposed research study designed to enable the implementation of an integrated approach by combining satellite remote sensing, irrigation models, micro-sensor technology and in-situ spectroradiometric measurements to determine the irrigation demand and finally to validate our results. Keywords: irrigation demand, micro-sensors, spectroradiometric measurements, spectral signature, evapotranspiration 1. INTRODUCTION It is essential to understand how much water is being used by the crops indifferent areas of an irrigation project to establish irrigation efficiency so as to achieve sustainable and improved water use efficiency. There is a need for an effective method of establishing crop water use in large irrigation projects so that crop demand can be accurately met by supply in order to eliminate problems such as lack of up to date information on the cropped area, evaporative demand in the agricultural fields and water supply. For most of the irrigation projects, irrigation is managed and supplied on the basis of historic precedence and the existing conventional data collection for determining the irrigation demand is not adequate and effective for large areas. However, satellite remotely sensed data can be used to accurately identify cropped areas in irrigated fields. If this information is combined with some other auxiliary local climatic data it is possible to identify the seasonal crop water demand in fields [1]. This study focuses on irrigation demand management through remote sensing techniques, in Cyprus. Inefficient irrigation practices due to lack of effective data for irrigation purposes, cause negative effect on water resources. The long drainage era, Cyprus faces, has caused lack of surface water while irrigation water for agri-purposes absorbs more than 65% of total water use [2]. Purpose of the project is to study evapotranspiration with the use of satellite remote sensing in order to improve irrigation management in Cyprus. The objective is to monitor irrigation demand by blending together satellite remote sensing, wireless micro-sensor technology for providing climatic and environmental data and irrigation water balance models. *d.hadjimitsis@cut.ac.cy; phone +357 25 002548; fax +357 25002661; http://www.cut.ac.cy/ce/ Remote Sensing for Agriculture, Ecosystems, and Hydrology X, edited by Christopher M. U. Neale, Manfred Owe, Guido D'Urso, Proc. of SPIE Vol. 7104, 71040I · © 2008 SPIE · CCC code: 0277-786X/08/$18 · doi: 10.1117/12.800366 Proc. of SPIE Vol. 7104 71040I-1 2008 SPIE Digital Library -- Subscriber Archive Copy