Orbital remote sensing to monitoring vine cycle using vegetation index in “Campanha region”, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil

Abstract

In Brazil, the fifth largest wine producer in the Southern Hemisphere, one of the more important regions is known as “Campanha”, in Rio Grande do Sul State. There, the viticulture is done in the large areas of Pampa Biome traditionally used to livestock production. An important resource to improve the knowledge about vineyards spatial and temporal characteristics in the region is the Remote Sensing and the valuable technique from derivation of vegetation indices obtained from satellite images. The aim of this study was to monitor ‘Cabernet Sauvignon’ grapevines cycle through temporal profiles of Normalized Vegetation Difference Index (NDVI) to identify the differences between vineyards located in several sites in the Campanha region. We derived NDVI values from Landsat 8/OLI images July 2015 to July 2016 of six vineyards belonging to different wineries, in the municipalities of Santana do Livramento, Bagé, Candiota and Dom Pedrito. Temporal profiles were compiled from the average NDVI for each vineyard in the images. In three vine cycle stages (dates), images were used to map the NDVI variability in Almadén vineyard. The results indicated temporal variability in NDVI values, similar among analyzed vineyards, which reflected the green biomass accumulation along the cycle and characterized the spectral behavior. In images from the same date, there was also spatial NDVI variability among the vineyards and it can be associated to soil, meteorological conditions and management adopted by the wineries.