Terroir 2020 banner
IVES 9 IVES Conference Series 9 Multispectral data from Sentinel-2 as a tool for monitoring late frost events on vineyards

Multispectral data from Sentinel-2 as a tool for monitoring late frost events on vineyards

Abstract

Aim: Climate change is altering some aspects of winegrape production with an advancement of phenological stages which may endanger viticultural areas in the event of a late frost. This study aims to evaluate the potential of satellite-based remote sensing to assess the damage and the recovery time after late frost events.

Methods and Results: Multispectral images derived from the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission were used to monitor an area in north-eastern Italy affected by late frost in 2017. The study focused on Vitis vinifera cv. Garganega, a white variety mainly cultivated in the provinces of Vicenza and Verona. The reflectance values obtained from satellite imagery of the frost affected area (F) and control area (NF) were used to compute several vegetation indices (VIs). The reflectance of the spectral bands and VIs were compared using an unpaired two-sample t-test. Frost damage was detected by Chlorophyll Absorption Ratio Index (CARI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) and Modified Triangular Vegetation Index 1 (MTVI1) (P ≤ 0.0001, 0.0001, 0.05, respectively). The spectral bands more sensitive to assess the frost damage were Near-Infrared (NIR) and Red Edge (P ≤ 0.0001). The previous VIs/spectral bands, the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and the Modified Simple Ratio (MSR) provided information on the full recovery time (P ≤ 0.0001) approximately 40 days after the frost event. 

Conclusions: 

The results suggest that multispectral data from Sentinel-2 have the potential to assess the damage and the recovery time of late frost in vineyards. Moreover, the analysis highlighted the spectral regions and the VIs more related to frost damage and recovery time detection. These findings suggest that Sentinel-2 data may represent a tool for prompt assessment and quantification of the damage, supporting reactive and effective decision-making.

Significance and Impact of the Study: The findings suggest that Sentinel-2 data may represent a cost-effective tool for prompt assessment and quantification of the damage, supporting reactive and effective decision-making. The insurance industry, which usually manage farmers’ risk, may benefit from a timely and near real-time overview of crop conditions.

Moreover, achieving valuable information from open-access imagery would represent the tool to extend the frost management from local to global scale.

DOI:

Publication date: March 17, 2021

Issue: Terroir 2020

Type: Video

Authors

Alessia Cogato1*, Franco Meggio2, Cassandra Collins3, Francesco Marinello1

1Department of Land, Environmental, Agriculture and Forestry, University of Padova, 35020 Legnaro (PD), Italy
2Department of Agronomy, Food, Natural Resources, Animals and the Environment, University of Padova, 35020 Legnaro (PD), Italy 
3School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, The University of Adelaide, Waite Research Institute, Glen Osmond, SA 5064, Adelaide, Australia

Contact the author

Keywords

Spring frost, multispectral remote sensing, vegetation indices, grapevine, frost damage, Vitis vinifera

Tags

IVES Conference Series | Terroir 2020

Citation

Related articles…

A better understanding of the climate effect on anthocyanin accumulation in grapes using a machine learning approach

The current climate changes are directly threatening the balance of the vineyard at harvest time. The maturation period of the grapes is shifted to the middle of the summer, at a time when radiation and air temperature are at their maximum. In this context, the implementation of corrective practices becomes problematic. Unfortunately, our knowledge of the climate effect on the quality of different grape varieties remains very incomplete to guide these choices. During the Innovine project, original experiments were carried out on Syrah to study the combined effects of normal or high air temperature and varying degrees of exposure of the berries to the sun. Berries subjected to these different conditions were sampled and analyzed throughout the maturation period. Several quality characteristics were determined, including anthocyanin content. The objective of the experiments was to investigate which climatic determinants were most important for anthocyanin accumulation in the berries. Temperature and irradiance data, observed over time with a very thin discretization step, are called functional data in statistics. We developed the procedure SpiceFP (Sparse and Structured Procedure to Identify Combined Effects of Functional Predictors) to explain the variations of a scalar response variable (a grape berry quality variable for example) by two or three functional predictors (as temperature and irradiance) in a context of joint influence of these predictors. Particular attention was paid to the interpretability of the results. Analysis of the data using SpiceFP identified a negative impact of morning combinations of low irradiance (lower than about 100 μmol m−2 s−1 or 45 μmol m−2 s−1 depending on the advanced-delayed state of the berries) and high temperature (higher than 25oC). A slight difference associated with overnight temperature occurred between these effects identified in the morning.

Impact of changes in pruning practices on vine growth and yield

A gradual decline in vineyards has been observed over the past twenty years worldwide. This might be explained by the climate change, practices change or the increase of dieback diseases. To increase the longevity of vines, we studied the impact of different pruning strategies in four adult and four young vineyards located in France and Spain. In France, vineyards were planted with Cabernet franc on 3309C while Spanish trials were planted with Tempranillo grafted on 110R. Vegetative expression, yield, quality of berries and wood vessels conductivity were measured. The distribution of vegetative expression, yield and berry composition between primary and secondary vegetation were quantified. Finally, tomography was used to evaluate the implication of the treatments on sap flows.
First results show that i) the respectful pruning leads to an increase of 30 to 50% more secondary shoots than the aggressive pruning in France and between 15 and 20% in Spain, ii) there is no major effect on the yield over the first two years following the implementation of the new pruning practices, although the proportion of clusters from suckers is higher on the respectful pruning method. On young vines, the development of the trunk according to a respectful pruning leads to a loss of harvest 2 years after planting. This is due to the removal, on the future trunk, of the green suckers which carrying bunches. This operation carried out in spring rather than during winter pruning, would promote a better leaf / fruit balance when the plant comes into production, and could lead to better hydraulic conduction in the vessels of the trunk. Maintaining these trials for several years will provide more robust data to assess the impact of these practices on the vines over the long term.

Assessment of climate change impacts on water needs and growing cycle on grapevine in three DOs of NE Spain

This study assessed the suitability of grapevine growing in three DOs (Empordà, Pla de Bages and Penedès) of Catalonia (NE Spain) over the 21st century. For this purpose, an estimation of water needs and agroclimatic and phenological indicators was made. Climate change impacts were estimated at 1 km pixel resolution using temperature and precipitation projections from several general circulation models (GCM) and two climate change scenarios: RCP 4.5 (stabilization scenario) and RCP 8.5 (worst-case scenario). Potential crop evapotranspiration (following FAO procedure) and a daily water balance considering soil water holding capacity were used to estimate actual evapotranspiration of vines and, finally, water needs. Dynamics would be similar in the three DOs studied although the magnitude of impact differs. Water needs would be 2 and 3 times greater (ranging from 0 to more than 1500 m3/ha) than current water needs at both climate change scenarios. Moreover, blooming date would advance from 3 to 6 weeks, harvest date from 1 to 2.5 months, resulting in growing cycles from 10 to 80 days shorter. It should also be noted that frost risk would decrease from 6 to 76%, the number of days with temperatures above 30ºC during ripening would rise from 48 to 500% and tropical nights (minimum temperature >20ºC) at ripening would increase from 28 to 150%, depending on the scenario and the DOs. The impacts of climate change in the three DOs could result in significant limitations for grapevine cultivation and wine production if adaptive strategies are not applied. This result could serve as a basis for the design of specific and particular adaptation strategies to improve and maintain vineyards in the DOs studied and could be extrapolated to similar DOs and regions.

The modification of cultural practices in grapevine cv. Syrah, does it modify the characteristics of the musts?

The work shows the results of a year of experimentation (2020) in a Syrah variety vineyard in La Roda (Castilla-La Mancha, Spain). The trial approach was on a randomized block design with two factors: Irrigation (I) and Pruning (P).
Irrigation schedules were adjusted to apply amounts close to 1,500 m3/ha. With this provision, 2 different irrigation treatments were proposed: I1) Start of irrigation from pea-sized grape to post-harvest (providing at least 20 % of the total amount of irrigation water to be provided post-harvest); I2) Start of irrigation from pea-sized grape to harvest (usual irrigation practice in the study area). Pruning was proposed with two treatments, one at the end of January (P1), which is pruning on a conventional date; and P2) pruning carried out at the beginning of budding. In total, 4 repetitions were designed with 4 elementary plots, each one of them representing one of the proposed treatments (I1P1; I1P2; I2P1; I2P2). In total, 16 plots were worked on and each elementary plot consisted of 30 strains, distributed in 3 lines.
The productive response was evaluated with the yield results of the harvest harvested at 23 ºBrix. The qualitative response was measured in the musts through the indices of technological (acidity, pH and potassium) and phenolic maturity and aromatic compounds in free and glycosylated fractions. The treatments tested had, in general, an effect on the different variables analyzed.

A predictive model of spatial Eca variability in the vineyard to support the monitoring of plant status

[lwp_divi_breadcrumbs home_text="IVES" use_before_icon="on" before_icon="||divi||400" module_id="publication-ariane" _builder_version="4.19.4" _module_preset="default" module_text_align="center" module_font_size="16px" text_orientation="center"...