Satellite imagery can support water planning in the Central Valley

Critics of this approach argue its intrinsic shortcomings. First, the annual compilation of data by human observation is expensive, incomplete and sometimes erroneous. Second, too much time is required to observe and compile land-use information and develop a water balance. Lastly, agricultural land-management objectives change from year to year as reflected by visible changes in crop cover; an observational survey does not completely assess these changes, since only a percentage of land is sampled in any one given year due to financial constraints. We believe that a better approach would be to include automation, objectivity and a feasibility study for complete annual land-use assessments. Automation reduces the cost of human labor, time and, potentially, error and enables the collection of timely information in a consistent manner. Objectivity, or the ability to collect unbiased information, gives credibility to water planning. Remote sensing, or the analysis of satellite imagery, is a widely used method to obtain information for water planRESEARCH ARTICLE