Customized land surface modeling for irrigation decision support in a crop and agronomic advisory service in precision agriculture

A method, comprising:

• within a computing environment comprised of a computer processor and at least one computer-readable storage medium operably coupled to the computer processor and having program instructions stored therein, the computer processor being operable to execute the program instructions to assess a moisture state, a temperature state, and a drainage state of a soil system in the particular field in an irrigation advisory model configured to perform the steps of:
• predicting expected weather conditions impacting moisture conditions in a crop root zone in the soil system in the particular field, by applying weather and climatological information comprised of historical field-level weather data and extended-range weather forecast data to one or more predictive numerical weather models;
• simulating moisture, temperature and drainage properties at multiple depths over time in the soil system, and soil-water characteristics in the crop root zone relative to one or more crop growth stages of a crop in the particular field to analyze crop root properties within the soil system and predict actual crop moisture use and variations in soil moisture conditions, soil temperature conditions, and soil drainage conditions, by applying the expected weather conditions, crop-specific information relative to the particular field, and soil information including data relating to crop and soil management practices that reflect at least one of prior tillage practices and prior moisture, temperature, and drainage conditions within the soil system in the particular field to coupled crop and soil simulation models of one or more physical and empirical characteristics impacting the moisture state in the soil system that form a land surface model customized to specific crop-soil interactions within the soil system in the particular field, and inferring at least one of thermal and hydraulic conductivity, root depth, and root distribution density at different depths of the soil system from one or more observations of in-field soil moisture, temperature, and drainage properties to adjust one or more parameters in the land surface model relating to the specific crop-soil interactions for performing one or more additional simulations of the moisture, temperature and drainage properties at multiple depths in the soil system, wherein the soil-water characteristics include crop water usage, a depth profile of where water is extracted from by the crop at the one or more growth stages, adequacy of water supply at the soil depth, and an impact of prior irrigation activity on the moisture state, to profile root zone moisture from the simulated moisture, temperature and drainage properties, and soil-water characteristics;
• and
• preparing one or more irrigation recommendations for an application of artificial precipitation for the particular field over time for the one or more crop growth stages from the profile of root zone moisture.

A system comprising:

• a computing environment including at least one computer-readable storage medium having program instructions stored therein and a computer processor operable to execute the program instructions to assess a moisture state, a temperature state, and a drainage state of a soil system in the particular field in an irrigation advisory model within a plurality of data processing modules, the plurality of data processing modules including:
• a weather modeling module configured to predict expected weather conditions impacting moisture conditions in a crop root zone in the soil system in the particular field, by applying weather and climatological information comprised of historical field-level weather data and extended-range weather forecast data to one or more predictive numerical weather models;
• one or more modules configured to simulate moisture, temperature and drainage properties at multiple depths over time in the soil system, and soil-water characteristics in the crop root zone relative to one or more crop growth stages of a crop in the particular field to analyze crop root properties within the soil system and predict actual crop moisture use and variations in soil moisture conditions, soil temperature conditions, and soil drainage conditions, by applying the expected weather conditions, crop-specific information relative to the particular field, and soil information including data relating to crop and soil management practices that reflect at least one of prior tillage practices and prior moisture, temperature, and drainage conditions within a soil system in the particular field to coupled crop and soil simulation models of one or more physical and empirical characteristics impacting the moisture state in the soil system that form a land surface model customized to specific crop-soil interactions within the soil system in the particular field, and inferring at least one of thermal and hydraulic conductivity, root depth, and root distribution density at different depths of the soil system from one or more observations of in-field soil moisture, temperature, and drainage properties to adjust one or more parameters in the land surface model relating to the specific crop-soil interactions for performing one or more additional simulations of the moisture, temperature and drainage properties at multiple depths in the soil system, wherein the soil-water characteristics include crop water usage, a depth profile of where water is extracted from by the crop at the one or more growth stages, adequacy of water supply at the soil depth, and an impact of prior irrigation activity on the moisture state, to profile root zone moisture from the simulated moisture, temperature and drainage properties, and soil-water characteristics;
• and
• an irrigation scheduling module configured to generate one or more irrigation recommendations for an application of water in the particular field over time for the one or more crop growth stages from the profile of root zone moisture.