SEPA Platform: added a key temporal indicator for vegetation

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A new satellite product developed by INTA incorporates the temporal dimension to the analysis of vegetation and makes it possible to identify how long negative anomalies persist. The tool improves the territorial reading of the state of crops and pastures, while providing concrete information to plan management and reduce risks in production systems.

INTA’s web platform **Satellite Tools for Monitoring Agricultural Production** (SEPA) incorporated a new product that significantly expands the analysis of the state of vegetation on a national scale. This is the duration of the negative anomalies of the NDVI vegetation index, a tool that incorporates the temporal variable, which makes a difference and provides a more precise reading for making productive decisions.

As explained by María de los Ángeles Fischer, researcher at the Institute of Climate and Water at INTA Castelar, “this product allows us to identify the areas of the country where the NDVI is below its historical average and quantify the time in which that condition was sustained.” This information, processed systematically, offers an indicator of the general state of the vegetation cover.

Unlike products that reflect the state of vegetation at a particular time, this new tool adds continuity in the analysis. “It provides the duration, in days, during which the NDVI remained below the historical average values, allowing the persistence of negative anomalies to be characterized,” Fischer specified. For the producer, the value lies in understanding where the system comes from and how it is currently located, which allows one to anticipate different scenarios and project productive decisions. “This information contributes to improving decision-making linked to, for example, planting dates, selection of crops and varieties, planning of production cycles or management strategies in the face of water deficit scenarios,” explained Fischer.

The temporal approach allows the specialists to distinguish transitory situations from those that are prolonged and can have a direct impact on production plans. The integrated reading of the territory is thus transformed into a practical tool, designed for everyday use.

One of the main contributions of the new product is that it allows evaluating the degree of persistence of stress in the vegetation cover, a data that is not obtained by simply observing specific anomalies. INTA highlighted that this information “facilitates the anticipation of unfavorable production scenarios and provides support to adjust management strategies and reduce risks.”

The new tool incorporates the temporal variable, which makes a difference and provides a more precise reading for making productive decisions.

A new tool, complementary to those available
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This new product integrates and complements the map of historical vegetation anomalies already available in SEPA. While that indicator shows whether the vegetation is above or below its average behavior at a given time, this new satellite product incorporates time as a key variable. “This new product incorporates the temporal dimension, showing how long these negative anomalies were sustained,” Fischer explained. The analysis is performed over a period of up to 112 days, with updates every 16 days.

From a technical point of view, the system analyzes intervals of 16, 32, 48, 64, 80, 96 and 112 previous days, which allows identifying areas where the vegetation maintains negative anomalies in a more or less persistent manner. The images used come from the MODIS sensor on board the Terra satellite and have a spatial resolution of 6.25 hectares, which allows a detailed reading of the productive territory.

The development is part of the work of the SEPA team, of the Permanent Observatory of Agroecosystems of the Climate and Water Institute (CIRN-INTA), which promotes the development and dissemination of satellite and agrometeorological products aimed at agricultural decision-making.

For Fischer, adding the duration of negative anomalies represents a methodological advance: “Adding the duration of negative anomalies is a useful approach as it adds a temporal dimension that is not typically included in traditional products.” In that sense, the new indicator consolidates SEPA as a platform in permanent evolution, which adds concrete tools to accompany productive planning with objective and national information.

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