Operational Space‐Assisted Irrigation Advisory Services: Overview Of And Lessons Learned From The Project DEMETER

The project DEMETER (DEMonstration of Earth observation TEchnologies in Routine irrigation advisory services) was dedicated to assessing and demonstrating improvements introduced by Earth observation (EO) and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in farm and Irrigation Advisory Service (IAS) day‐to‐day operations. The DEMETER concept of near‐real‐time delivery of EO‐based irrigation scheduling information to IAS and farmers has proven to be valid. The operationality of the space segment was demonstrated for Landsat 5‐TM in the Barrax pilot zone during the 2004 and 2005 irrigation campaigns. Extra‐fast image delivery and quality controlled operational processing make the EO‐based crop coefficient maps available at the same speed and quality as ground‐based data (point samples), while significantly extending the spatial coverage and reducing service cost. Leading‐edge online analysis and visualization tools provide easy, intuitive access to the information and personalized service to users. First feedback of users at IAS and farmer level is encouraging. The paper gives an overview of the project and its main achievements.