Abstract
Irrigation is a crucial component of world-wide food system, as it is estimated that 40% of global food production is from irrigated croplands. With limited available croplands and yet a growing population worldwide and a changing climate, irrigation is crucial to help meet a growing food demand. Yet it is a process increasingly growing consideration in current hydrological model developments.
Building on a previously built flexible and open-source hydrological digital twin for the Adige River basin (~11000 square kilometers), located in the north-east of Italy, at high temporal (daily) and spatial resolution (5km2), a novel irrigation modeling component is implemented for the region. Irrigation water is crucial to the economy of the region, for fruit productions (vineyards and apple) and necessary to be included into water budget quantification, given that conflicts are strife between the different usages (irrigation, domestic, industrial, hydropower).
The implementation includes water demand assessment through soil moisture and evapotranspiration, while accounting for the different type of crops and specific water needs. Irrigation is activated when soil moisture (which depend on field capacity and melting points) fall below a fixed threshold. The flexibility of the digital twin framework allows us to quantify the effect of different type of evapotranspiration algorithms on irrigation estimates.
Results show the different range of results with regards to irrigation quantities dependent on the different thresholds and evapotranspiration formulae retained, outlining the importance of the framework flexibility in the implementation of a digital twin.
The work is supported by the project Fondo per il Programma Nazionale di Ricerca e Progetti di Rilevante Interesse Nazionale (PRIN) ÒControl-based Optimization of the AnthropogeniC Hydrological cycle for a sustainable WATer management (COACH-WAT, CODE 2022FXJ3NN CUP E53D23004390001) and WATERSTEM (Prot. 20202WF53Z) – PRIN