In this project funded by the GRDC we are developing a modular and scalable framework to build a digital platform that will be used by growers and advisors to nowcast plant available water (PAW) at any point in time, across paddocks and at multiple depths in the soil profile. The approach will be agnostic to the type of soil water data streams and will be able to digest these to extract the best features of all in terms of accuracy, spatial and temporal resolution to provide improved predictions of PAW. The agnostic nature of the approach means that it will be future proof in terms of being able to accommodate the next generation of sensors, remote sensing platforms and water balance modelling approaches.
Other USYD investigators included Alex McBratney, Brett Whelan, Budiman Minasny, Guy Roth, Willem Vervoort and Mario Fajardo. The project is collaboration with CSIRO, Bureau of Meteorology, USQ and ANU.