MULTI-SCALE MEASUREMENT, ANALYSIS AND MODELING OF SUGARCANE PLANTATIONS IN LOUISIANA

Overall Research GoalThe overall research goal of this proposed project is twofold: (1) to improve our understanding of the carbon-water-energy fluxes of sugarcane production under changing cultivation practices, management practices, and climate; and (2) to improve our capacity in monitoring, modeling, and predicting the carbon and water fluxes of sugarcane production across spatial and temporal scales.Specific AimsAim 1: Quantify the temporal dynamics of carbon-water-energy fluxes of sugarcane fields at selected sites and accurately understand the effect of changing sugarcane cultivation practices, management practices, and climate on those carbon-water-energy fluxes.Aim 2: Assess and improve both data-driven models (VPM (Zhang et al. 2017), VPRM (Mahadevan et al. 2008)) and process-based models (CANEGRO/DSSAT) so that they can accurately simulate carbon and water fluxes of sugarcane fields under changing sugarcane cultivation practices, management practices, and climate.Aim 3: Quantify and monitor spatial-temporal dynamics of carbon fluxes and cane stalk yield of sugarcane fields across county, watershed and basin scales in Louisiana.