The utility of UAV high resolution imagery and point cloud data for canopy characteristics, LAI retrieval and Evapotranspiration and Transpiration in commercial vineyards in California Dr. Alfonso Torres-Rua Utah State University, USA

In recent years, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have facilitated the development of novel approaches for crop monitoring applications, from vegetation indices to evapotranspiration (ET) and soil moisture estimation. In addition to the orthomosaic products from the UAV optical sensors, 3D (point cloud) information derived from photogrammetric algorithms, are becoming part of crop monitoring applications such as yield estimation. In this study, we document the advantages of UAV information in clumped canopy environments as in orchards and vineyards for estimation of canopy characteristics that support estimation of Evaporation and Transpiration. On this regard, we will discuss the experience of application of UAV information in commercial vineyards by the Utah State University AggieAir small Unmanned Aerial System (sUAS) Program as part of the ARS-USDA GRAPEX Project (Grape Remote sensing Atmospheric Profile and Evapotranspiration eXperiment) conducted since 2014 over multiple vineyards located in California. In this study, example of UAV point cloud characteristics, developed algorithms to process this information, canopy derived products, and their influence on ET and Transpiration estimation are presented and discussed.