EAGLE Internship Presentation “Effect of Semicircular Bunds for Soil moisture conservation in Ethiopia”

EAGLE Internship Presentation “Effect of Semicircular Bunds for Soil moisture conservation in Ethiopia”

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presentation

January 27, 2025

On January 28, 2025, Suriya Elango will present his internship on “Effect of Semicircular Bunds for Soil moisture conservation in Ethiopia” at 12:00 in seminar room 3, John-Skilton-Str. 4a.

 

From the abstract:

This study assessed the impact of semi-circular soil bunds on soil moisture conservation in the semi-arid Desa forest region of Ethiopia.  Implemented in 2020-2021, the bunds were evaluated against a control region using Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 data processed in Google Earth Engine (GEE).  Analysis was conducted seasonally (Bega, Belg, Kiremt) corresponding to dry, medium, and high rainfall periods.  Sentinel-1 GRD parameters, including VH/VV ratio, and Sentinel-2 derived indices (NDVI, GVMI, MSAVI, LSWI) were extracted.  A novel approach integrating LSWI and EVI with the Water Cloud Model was employed to enhance soil moisture prediction. Random forest regression modeling yielded R² values of 0.2 for Sentinel-2 data, 0.48 for Sentinel-1 (VH/VV ratio being key), and 0.8 for fused data.  Results indicate a significant increase in total water content within bunded fields since 2020, demonstrating the effectiveness of semi-circular bunds for improving soil moisture retention and potentially enhancing agricultural resilience in arid Ethiopian environments

 

Supervisor: Dr. Dhillon Maninder Singh

Hosting institution: Weforest.org

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