Carlo De Michele

Ariespace srl, Italy, Napoli · R&D

In agriculture, nitrogen (N) is a key element in plant nutrition that affects, both positively and negatively, the productive and qualitative results of the crop. Accurate quantification of nitrogen levels is crucial for devising effective plant nutrition strategies. The objective of this study was to validate a novel method to estimate the N conte...

Nowadays, there is contrasting evidence between the ongoing continuing and widespread environmental degradation and the many means to implement environmental sustainability actions starting from good policies (e.g. EU New Green Deal, CAP), powerful technologies (e.g. new satellites, drones, IoT sensors), large databases and large stakeholder engage...

Deriving evapotranspiration is crucial for determining the water requirements of crops and for efficiently allocating water resources for irrigation. Various experiments and methods have proven that earth observation (EO) is a useful tool for estimating evapotranspiration and supporting irrigation and water resource management at different scales....

Nowadays, the business of ecotourism and rural tourism is a very important activity for many inland areas, enabling them to both produce important income and sustain the rural economy. Moreover, sustainable tourism is included in the UN 17th Sustainable Development Goal, which is to be achieved by 2030 (SDG 8.9 and SDG 12). Recent progress in digit...

The protection of the groundwater resource from non-point-source pollutants, such as those coming from agricultural practices, is the focus of several European Directives, including the Water Framework Directive and the Pesticide Directive. Besides the environmental goals to be reached by the single EU member state, these directives clearly underli...

A new approach is proposed to derive evapotranspiration (E) and irrigation requirements by implementing the combination equation models of Penman-Monteith and Shuttleworth and Wallace with surface parameters and resistances derived from Sentinel-2 data. Surface parameters are derived from Sentinel-2 and used as an input in these models; namely: the...

Lack of accurate and up-to-date data associated with irrigated areas and related irrigation amounts is hampering the full implementation and compliance of the Water Framework Directive (WFD). In this paper, we describe the framework that we developed and implemented within the DIANA project to map the actual extent of irrigated areas in the Campani...

Forests are part of a complex landscape mosaic and play a crucial role for people living both in rural and urbanized spaces. Recent progresses in modelling and Decision Support System (DSS) applied to the forestry sector promise to improve public participative forest management and decision-making in planning and conservation issues. However, most...

A research study was conducted in an open field tomato crop in order to: (i) Evaluate the capability of Sentinel-2 imagery to assess tomato canopy growth and its crop water requirements; and (ii) explore the possibility to predict crop water requirements by assimilating the canopy cover estimated by Sentinel-2 imagery into AquaCrop model. The pilot...

The efficient use of water in agriculture is one of the most significant agricultural challenges that modern technologies are helping to cope with through Irrigation Advisory Services (IAS) and Decision Support Systems (DSS). These last are considered powerful management instruments able to help farmers achieve the best efficiency in irrigation wat...

The lack of accurate and up-to-date data on irrigated areas and water volumes is hampering the full implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) and its compliance especially in Mediterranean regions. In many cases statistical data acquired by means of periodical surveys, while they are able to give a picture at the national scale, they ar...

The EU Water Framework Directive imposes a substantial increase in the efficiency of water use in agriculture for the next decade on farmers and irrigation managers. Monitoring irrigated areas and applied volumes on a systematic basis is needed to assess compliance with legal water allocations. The H2020 project DIANA (http://diana-h2020.eu/en/) is...

In Southern Mediterranean regions, irrigation is essential for ensuring high crop yields during late spring and summer, characterised by high temperatures and lack of rain. Indeed, irrigation allows lands to be, on average, twice as productive as rain-fed lands. Improving the efficiency of water use for irrigation is required for ensuring long-term...

In literature a very large range of available DSS tools can be found for facing agriculture, forestry and environmental issues. However, these are typically designed to tackle a specific problem/scale/end-user group. The objective of LANDSUPPORT (H2020 project) is the construction of a web-based smart geoSpatial Decision Support System (S-DSS), whi...

The occurrence of water shortages ascribed to projected climate change, especially in the Mediterranean region, fosters the interest in remote sensing (RS) applications to optimize water use in agriculture. Remote sensing evapotranspiration and water demand estimation over large cultivated areas were used to manage irrigation to minimize losses dur...

The development of GH2MF2 project was motivated from solidarity and from the need to dignify the most disadvantaged people living in the poorest countries in the world (Asia, Africa and South America), which are continually exposed to changes in the hydrologic cycle suffering events of large floods and/or long periods of droughts due to climate cha...

Irrigation according to reliable estimates of crop water requirements (CWR) is one of the key strategies to ensure long-term sustainability of irrigated agriculture. In southern Mediterranean regions, during the irrigation season, CWR is almost totally controlled by the potential evapotranspiration of the irrigated crop. An innovative system for fo...

The LCIS web-DSS novel framework intends the integration of top tier knowledge of all scientific sectors related to agriculture systems performance in a unique and fully transferable system able to work at different spatial scales specific spots on field, farm, district, under different pedo-climatic conditions, with different crops management unde...

I Consorzi di Bonifica ed Irrigazione gestiscono impianti collettivi per fornire l’acqua per l’irrigazione. Il calcolo del ruolo irriguo si basa, in mancanza di misure dirette, su una dichiarazione prodotta da ciascuna azienda agricola in cui sono riportate, per ciascuna particella catastale, le superfici irrigate e le relative dotazioni per ettaro...

Water managers need map of irrigated areas (defined as the identification of their location and their areal extent) to plan a rational use of water under limited availability and to prevent the unauthorized withdrawals. Many authors have shown that the Earth Observation techniques are an effective tool for mapping irrigated areas worldwide at diffe...

Soil sealing is considered among the most dangerous of land degradation processes on global, European and national scales. Despite important policy documents aiming to mitigate this soil threat, it currently shows no signs of abating, and current efforts often do not result in appropriate implementation of soil sealing mitigation in spatial plannin...

The world of viticulture connected to wine making has become a very important activity in many inland areas permitting both the generation of important income and the sustaining of agriculture systems. Recent progress in both crop modeling and Decision Support Systems (DSS) applied to viticulture promises important changes that combine both high qu...

Water managers need map of irrigated areas (defined as the identification of their location and their areal extent) to plan a rational use of water under limited availability and to prevent the unauthorized withdrawals. Many authors have shown that the Earth Observation techniques are an effective tool for mapping irrigated areas worldwide at diffe...

This project presented at the International Conference " Citizen Observatories for Water Management " COWM 2016 born of solidarity and the need to dignify the most disadvantaged people living in the poorest countries (Africa, South America and Asia), which are continually exposed to changes in the hydrologic cycle suffering events of large floods a...

Water managers need map of irrigated areas (defined as the identification of their location and their areal extent) to plan a rational use of water under limited availability and to prevent the unauthorized withdrawals. Many authors have shown that the Earth Observation techniques are an effective tool for mapping irrigated areas worldwide at diffe...

Globally, crop evapotranspiration has increased with the expansion of agricultural lands and irrigated areas. In particular, two components of crop water use can be defined: green water use (GW) as the crop evapotranspiration steaming from rain infiltrated on soil, and blue water use (BW) as the amount of crop evapotranspiration steaming from irrig...

Water managers need map of irrigated areas (defined as the identification of their location and their areal extent) to plan a rational use of water under limited availability and to prevent the unauthorized withdrawals. Many authors have shown that the Earth Observation techniques are an effective tool for mapping irrigated areas worldwide at diffe...

Earth Observation (EO) for agricultural water management is a mature technology and it is ready for being transferred to operational applications. Presently, some systems based on EO data are used in Irrigation Advisory Services (IASs) and are recognized as useful tools for improving water management in agriculture. EO-based IASs provide new servic...

During recent years Earth Observation from space (E.O.) has become the most important source of data for monitoring most of land surface-atmosphere processes, and in particular the hydrology of agricultural and forestry areas. Nowadays, E.O. data are being implemented in operative applications for the management of land and water resources. The tec...

The sustainable management of water resources plays a key role in Mediterranean viticulture, characterized by scarcity and competition of available water. This study focuses on estimating the evapotranspiration and crop coefficients of table grapes vineyards trained on overhead " tendone " systems in the Apulia region (Italy). Maximum vineyard tran...

In Mediterranean Countries the proper management of water resources is important for the preservation of actual production systems. The possibility to manage water resources is possible especially in the greenhouses systems. In Campania region protected crops (greenhouses and tunnels) have a considerable economic importance both for their extension...

Today, Irrigation Advisory Services (IAS) using data derived from satellite imagery are valid tools for supporting irrigation management at different spatial scale. These service they produce a huge amount of multitemporal data for a wide variety of irrigated crops for several irrigation districts that could be potentially used for computing water...

Today it is evident that there are many contrasting demands on our landscape (e.g. food security, more sustainable agriculture, higher income in rural areas, etc.) as well as many land degradation problems. It has been proved that providing operational answers to these demands and problems is extremely difficult. Here we aim to demonstrate that a...

While Europe is by large considered as having adequate water resources, water scarcity and drought is an increasingly frequent and widespread phenomenon in the European Union. The long term imbalance resulting from water demand exceeding available water resources is no longer uncommon (EU, 2012). Objective of this paper is to show how the tools, ba...

Soil is a key natural resource and most crucial ecosystem services and the most important environmental benefits to humankind and the environment depend by its properties. However, soil is a delicate resource. Urbanization is the most impactful use of soils because it can cancel all its ecosystem functions and ends forever its life cycle since soil...

Irrigation agriculture is one the biggest consumer of water in Europe, especially in southern regions, where it accounts for up to 70% of the total water consumption. The EU Common Agricultural Policy, combined with the Water Framework Directive, imposes to farmers and irrigation managers a substantial increase of the efficiency in the use of water...

Today it is evident that there are many contrasting demands on our landscape (e.g. food security, more sustainable agriculture, higher income in rural areas, etc.) as well as many land degradation problems. It has been proved that providing operational answers to these demands and problems is extremely difficult. Here we aim to demonstrate that a...

This chapter addresses the biophysical dimension of adaptation. A framework is developed and applied to evaluate options for adaptation in different and relevant Italian agricultural cropping systems. Adaptation options rely on the identification of alternate cultivars optimally adapted to expected climate conditions, building on crops’ intraspecif...

Earth Observation techniques are widely recognised in supporting the management of land and water resources and they are nowadays being transferred to operative applications. In this paper, we present the current status of a satellite-based irrigation advisory system based on dedicated webGIS or farmers and district managers, in three different agr...

While Europe is by large considered as having adequate water resources, water scarcity and drought is an increasingly frequent and widespread phenomenon in the European Union. The long term imbalance resulting from water demand exceeding available water resources is no longer uncommon (EU, 2012). Objective of this paper is to show how the tools, ba...

While Europe is by large considered as having adequate water resources, water scarcity and drought is an increasingly frequent and widespread phenomenon in the European Union. The long term imbalance resulting from water demand exceeding available water resources is no longer uncommon (EU, 2012). Objective of this paper is to show how the tools, ba...

Earth Observation (EO) for agricultural water management is a mature technology and it is ready for being transferred to operational applications. Presently, some systems based on EO data are used in Irrigation Advisory Services (IAS) and are recognized as useful tools for improving water management in agriculture. EO-based IASs provide new service...

Water scarcity is a growing concern for global agriculture, many irrigated areas have experienced in recent years a reduction in water availability due both to its decrease and an increase in demand for water for domestic and industrial use. Future scenarios, due to climate change could intensify the problems of water scarcity and irrigation requir...

IRRISAT is a satellite-based irrigation advisory service developed in Italy and operational since 2007 in the Campania region (Southern Italy). The service aims at providing farms and managers of water resources with real time information on agricultural water needs. Irrigation needs are estimated using high resolution data from Earth observation s...

This paper reports the results of the project SIRIUS (Sustainable Irrigation water management and River-basin governance: Implementing User-driven Services) for the pilot area located in Southern Italy. SIRIUS is a research project funded by EU FP7 in the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) framework supporting the development of...

The SIRIUS (Sustainable Irrigation Water Management and River – basin Governance: implementing User - driven Services) project, funded by EC FP7, is developing new services for water managers and food producers, including maps detailing irrigation water requirements in different areas, crop water consumption estimates, and a range of add itional in...

This work aims to present the first results of the LIFE+ SOILCONSWEB project (LIFE08 ENV/IT/000408 ) aiming to produce, to test and to apply a decision supporting system (DSS) tool. The practical focus of this tool is to support (stakeholders) decision on landscape issues aiming to both the best soil conservation and land management and also to an...

Quantifying the spatial and temporal relationships between the different water balance terms for the entire Tibetan Plateau is a key-focus of the CEOP-AEGIS project funded by the 7th framework programme of the European commission. One of the products of this project will be a prototype water balance observation system for the Tibetan plateau, built...

Starting from the experience of past European projects (Demeter, PLEIADeS) on the development of space-assisted irrigation management, an operational service was started in 2008 in four irrigation districts in the Campania Region, Italy, to provide farmers and water user associations with real-time information on crop water requirements based on Ea...

Le applicazioni agrometeorologiche per la gestione delle colture in pieno campo e l’utilizzo di nuove tecnologie di monitoraggio sono sempre più diffuse e si concretizzano anche attraverso lo sviluppo di progetti di ricerca internazionali orientati all’implementazione di servizi operativi. Particolare rilevanza assume il programma Global Monitoring...

The Irrigation Advisory Plan of Campania Region is an initiative of the Assessor for Agriculture and Productive Activities, through the Research and Development Service (Se.S.I.R.CA); it consists of an innovative advisory service for irrigation, based on the combined use of Earth Observation data, GIS and Information Technology to provide crop wate...

The project DEMETER (DEMonstration of Earth observation Technologies in Routine irrigation advisory services; http://www.demeter-ec.net) has been financed by the U.E. within the V Framework Program and it is dedicated to the development of techniques for using space remote sensing data (Earth Observation, EO data) for improving water management in...