Satellite methane monitoring in rice growing regions of Latin America

Strategy 1. Farms Strategy 2. Territories Technological Applied Information System 2022

Code:

ID1732MonitoreoMetano

Initiative:

Call for Proposals

Other agencies:

USD 200.000

Counterpart Amount:

USD 682.374

Execution time

48 Months

Total Amount:

USD 882.374

Participating countries:

Uruguay

Panama

Peru

Colombia

Costa Rica

New Zeland

United States

Funding source:

Other agencies 23% Counterpart Amount 77%

Executive Summary

Given the importance of quantifying methane (CH4) emissions from rice paddies in national inventories and the increasing investment in mitigation technologies, there is significant value in developing verification technologies that can be applied at regional or national scales.

It is currently possible to monitor CH4 content using satellite sensors. An example of such a sensor is the Sentinel-5 Precursor (Sentinel-5P) satellite. This is a reliable data source that can be used to analyze spatiotemporal changes at different spatial scales, including regions and countries.

This project aims to strengthen regional capacities for monitoring, reporting, and verification of methane emissions in rice ecosystems through a satellite tool that provides frequent, reliable, and free estimates to rice communities and governments.

The technological solution

Strengthen regional capacities for monitoring, reporting and verification of methane emissions in rice ecosystems through a satellite tool that provides frequent, reliable and free estimates to the rice community and governments.

This will be achieved through:

i) the design of models based on satellite information to estimate methane emissions in rice ecosystems

ii) the validation of models using field samples acquired in rice-growing regions with contrasting ecosystems

iii) the development of a web platform to democratize access to the data and knowledge generated under this project.

Results

Design of satellite-based models to estimate methane emissions in rice ecosystems using artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms with the objective of emulating the physicochemical processes encoded in atmospheric gas transport models. Meteorological data, land cover and atmospheric CH4 concentrations are expected to be used to predict emission fluxes from rice ecosystems using satellite data.

This will allow the characterization of different rice regions using novel methane sensors. Field data acquired will be correlated with satellite data and the results of this validation will be included in a web platform, making them available to the entire rice community and governments. This is expected to provide a novel information system that will contribute to policy-making aimed at mitigating GHG emissions and improving the welfare of rice producers in the project countries.

Beneficiaries

The direct beneficiaries in the project countries will include:

-1500 producers and extensionists

- At least 150 researchers and 50 national GHG inventory managers and government policy makers in the countries participating in the project.

Indirectly, and due to the global nature and the free nature of the tools designed, we expect to be able to impact 3000 beneficiaries in other rice growing regions of America, Africa and Asia.

Sustainable Development Goals

Main donors

Participating Organizations

Executor

Instituto Nacional de Investigación Agropecuaria (INIA) - Uruguay

Co-executor

Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina (UNALM) - Perú
Conagro Semillas, S.A. (CONAGRO) - Panamá

Associated

Fondo Latinoamericano para Arroz de Riego (FLAR) - Colombia
Otago University (Otago University) - Nueva Zelanda
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) - Estados Unidos
Instituto Interamericano de Cooperación para la Agricultura (IICA) - Costa Rica