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

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

read more news:

Learning Geospatial Tools in Practice: whitebox

Learning Geospatial Tools in Practice: whitebox

A central goal of the EAGLE Earth Observation programme is to equip students with a broad and practical understanding of the software tools used in geospatial analysis. Rather than focusing on a single platform, students are encouraged to explore different approaches,...

From Satellites to Snow Angels

From Satellites to Snow Angels

Our EAGLE M.Sc. students, coming from all over the world, are making the most of the short breaks between courses. Whether it’s spontaneous snow angel sessions or friendly snowball fights around the EORC, laughter and flying snow are never far away. These moments of...

Where Learning Meets Friendship

Where Learning Meets Friendship

At EAGLE, studying together is only part of the story. Our students are more than classmates — they’re hiking buddies, party companions, and the kind of people who show up to lectures with birthday cakes 🎂. Today was a perfect example. Our EAGLE student...

Snow Research at Schneefernerhaus, Zugspitze

Snow Research at Schneefernerhaus, Zugspitze

Recently, our team carried out another successful field campaign at the Schneefernerhaus research station on the Zugspitze in the Alps. Together with our EAGLE students, we collected UAS-based environmental data alongside detailed in-situ measurements of snow...