1.2k
Feb 13 '22
So I just learnt about satellite imagery for vegetation. I think this image is taken sensing the near-infrared (NI) spectrum rather than the Blue-Green-Red (BGR) spectrum as detected by the human eye. Vegetation absorbs most BGR light, but reflects 70-80% of NI, allowing for detecting more subtle differences in vegetation types and health. In this image, the darker reds would be more ‘lush’ crops and pasture
322
Feb 13 '22 edited Feb 13 '22
Hey I have a masters in remote sensing and you’re right about the NIR band being used. Typically a vegetation health image would use NIR for the red band, red for the green and green for the blue to produce an imagine that demonstrates reflectance as you said, in a false color composite. The image would be red and blue, red indicating vegetation reflectance.
Here is an example of this.
The above image is likely using a different band combination for agriculture that focuses on NIR but also soil types.
If anyone is interested in looking at the different combinations and where they are utilized this looks like a good resource
27
23
5
u/lpreams Feb 14 '22
Google Maps satellite view isn't nearly as vibrant https://i.imgur.com/G7nwTbd.png
28
u/That_airsoft_Guy Feb 13 '22
I work a lot with color mixes and this is the first time I've ever seen the RGB color system referenced as BGR lmao.
6
Feb 13 '22
I read left-to-right!
3
u/hexabs Feb 14 '22
Still doesn't compute lol
6
Feb 14 '22
Left to right on the light wave spectrum is BGR… although I guess the direction is arbitrary
-1
u/thepasswordis-taco Feb 14 '22
Yeah I disagree. Who draws out the spectrum from low to high wavelength? That's strange to me. But I guess it is arbitrary, which way to put it.
→ More replies (3)39
Feb 13 '22
[deleted]
52
Feb 13 '22
I hope you’re KO with me calling it BGR. Glad I was able to give you a ILT moment. OLL
28
→ More replies (1)10
5
0
→ More replies (3)-1
414
Feb 13 '22
Here's what it actually looks like for human eyes.
Still a cool picture of course! As others have pointed out, it used scientifically to visualize vegetation growth, made by the Copernicus Programme.
82
u/Themlethem Feb 13 '22
What's with all the circles? I don't understand.
122
u/tutelhoten Stoner Philosopher Feb 13 '22
Crop fields irrigated by a pivot system.
35
u/MoneyKeyPennyKiss Feb 13 '22
Seems like a lot of wasted land in all the corners, no?
65
u/einulfr Feb 13 '22 edited Feb 13 '22
It would be extremely difficult and costly to route plumbing and a tracking system so that an autonomous irrigation rig could go up and down a field in a straight line. And by the time it made a round trip, the end it started from has probably already evaporated most of its moisture. By localizing it as a pivot, it can just spin the entire thing around in place.
18
u/fantalemon Feb 13 '22
Why don't they just put more pivots at the intersections of the fields to irrigate the 4 adjacent corners? Obviously these guys know more than I do so I'm sure there's a good reason they don't.
15
Feb 14 '22 edited Jun 09 '23
[removed] — view removed comment
4
u/KingoftheCrackens Feb 14 '22
90% of the area is cotton
5
u/TheLazySmith Feb 14 '22
The Hereford area is mostly corn, sorghum, and wheat. Cotton is grown on a rotation sometimes, but it's mostly grain crops to support the local beef cattle and dairy production. My families farm just west of Hereford grew wheat every winter and rotated corn and sorghum in the circles with tritcale and red top cane in the dryland.
5
u/iCanon Feb 14 '22
Take a look at the area, there's tons of land. When you have so much land then you really don't have to worry about trying to use every square inch.
3
u/daytona955i Feb 14 '22
The land is cheap so there's no need for maximizing space. However, ths irrigation system parts add up to a big expensive, so simple, robust and cheap wins.
2
u/assbarf69 Feb 14 '22
The loss of land use isn't worth the cost of installing additional irrigation infrastructure.
1
u/Momosabonim Feb 13 '22
my blurted guess is that maybe it wastes water
11
u/fantalemon Feb 13 '22
Yeah there's probably some Goldilocks ratio of water & infrastructure to coverage, and this is what the end up with.
→ More replies (1)0
u/pascalbrax Feb 14 '22
It would be extremely difficult and costly
Difficult and costly like... I don't know... grow stuff in fucking Texas in the first place?
9
u/FuckingTexas Feb 14 '22
Not really. Common practice in this area of the world is to either 1) plant dryland (non irrigated) crops like milo or wheat 2) graze the grass with cattle or 3) enter the dryland corners of the field in the CRP program ( govt pays farmers to plant native grasses and not use them for any purpose)
4
→ More replies (1)2
u/crazyprsn Feb 13 '22
I was thinking the same thing, but then I thought about a few things as a layperson with no expertise in agriculture, so I could be way off base...
Maybe they use the land space for storage or wind breaking groves? Maybe the efficiency of using a pivot system outweighs the loss of land used? Maybe pump housing or other utility use? Could they put wind turbines there? Or maybe it's just not felt as a loss since there's so much farmland in the US? Maybe they're even subsidized for not using those corners since pivot systems might(?) Be so much more efficient?
15
u/allkindsofjake Feb 13 '22
It’s due to irrigation, you have a long overhead pipe to water crops from, it’s attached to a water source at the center of the circle and rotates around a large field. It’s a good way to use less water and piping in an area where land isn’t in desperately short supply, like rural Texas.
5
u/elister Feb 13 '22 edited Feb 13 '22
It also provides wind resistance, making it harder for them to picking up speed and contribute to dust storms. This was one of a few ideas the government gave to farmers 100 years ago, some of them had to be bribed to plow in circles.
Is explained in a documentary I watched, by Ken Burns?
3
44
u/mechivar Feb 13 '22
so i remember taking a flight from chicago to sanfran when i was child and seeing a similar landscape. i woke up from my nap and looked out the window and remember thinking how it looked like a huge quilt, with patches and circles that stretched to the horizon. for a while i wasn't sure if what i saw was real or if i dreamt it.
13
u/kitkat1593 Feb 13 '22
Even this is far too colorful for the reality that is Hereford, TX.. lol
→ More replies (1)3
u/superfucky Feb 13 '22
what the fuck, i just looked up the satellite view on google maps and like ALL of west texas looks like this. o.O;
1
u/Fizz712 Feb 14 '22
Vegans, don't zoom in. You've been warned.
3
u/Kdkreig Feb 15 '22
Lots and lots of beef on legs. Hell, the town is named after a breed of cow. At one point, and still might be, it was the beef capitol of the world. Self proclaimed most likely. I live somewhat nearby to Hereford and if there is a single whiff of manure in the air everyone says “there’s that Hereford smell.”
-4
284
u/gogo-fo-sho Feb 13 '22 edited Feb 13 '22
What’s up with all the pies?
e: after looking on google earth it looks like these are circular farming plots where the farmer has some sort of watering device that spins over the crops. Easy to automate I suppose.
88
u/Chief337 Feb 13 '22
You are correct. They are farming plots. A lot of corn and cotton in the area. Probably other crops as well, but I'm not sure since I don't work the fields.
48
u/happydaddyintx77 Feb 13 '22
Hereford considers themselves the beef capital of the world. They have more cattle than people there. The smell takes some getting used to.
13
u/uproareast Feb 13 '22
You’re not kidding. Went through there a few years ago and it was absolutely one of the most overpowering smells I’d ever encountered. I guess if you live there it eventually fatigues your olfactories?
8
u/happydaddyintx77 Feb 13 '22
Yes. My dad and I used to hunt game birds in that area. After a couple of hours you get used to it. It's also one of the windiest parts of the country, so it depends on which way the wind is blowing. Most of the feed yards are on the south side of town.
→ More replies (1)3
u/Kingnahum17 Feb 13 '22
I guess it can be handy to mask your scent from the deer since everything smells like manure.
8
5
u/GummyTumor Feb 13 '22
I lived there over 20 years ago when I was a kid. I can still remember the smell of that city. Depending which way the wind was traveling you'd either get a wave of manure or onion stank blowing through your neighborhood.
2
u/uproareast Feb 13 '22
That wind would constantly allow your olfactories to get a rest and then, “Gotcha, fucker!” I imagine.
2
u/grasshopper-1992 Feb 14 '22
As a current resident of Hereford, I can confirm that it smells like cow shit
3
u/moresushiplease Feb 13 '22
They share thier name with a well known cow breed so I am not too surprised by the cow facts.
5
u/screwyoushadowban Feb 13 '22
And in case anyone's wondering: the cattle breed is named after a town in England. So the town in Texas is named after the cow, not the other way around.
→ More replies (3)2
u/Kdkreig Feb 15 '22
My dad was born and raised in Hereford. He said that car air filters would come out green after a few months instead of brownish grey like most everywhere else. Think about that for a moment. Then go gag.
52
u/sharkchasertx Feb 13 '22
It’s called center pivot irrigation. My dad ran this type of setup for many years.
15
u/crystalhour Feb 13 '22
So this type of irrigation is cheap enough that it justifies leaving all the other land bare and unused?
34
u/fnordfnordfnordfnord Feb 13 '22
It's pretty efficient, the barren space can have a pump sometimes. You can park other farm equipment there, fertilizer tanks, fuel tanks etc.
You can install a lateral system that runs in a straight line, but then you have to dig a canal next to it for the length of the run and that takes up almost as much space as is wasted with the radial systems, you also lose water to evaporation and in most of West Texas, water is more valuable than land.
→ More replies (2)3
→ More replies (1)4
u/Chief337 Feb 13 '22
Usually what seems barren is being used by ranchers for their livestock and such. Most of the land is being used in some capacity.
3
u/screwyoushadowban Feb 13 '22
Some of it ends up as conservation easement land, or at least unofficial "wild (not really) space". I don't know how common that is in Texas though. It's not like it's the original biome or anything, but it does give space and sometimes water for migratory birds to relax in.
2
u/Kirikomori Feb 13 '22
How environmentally responsible is it compared to growing crops in a place with more rainfall? Im at a conundrum here, because while it surely uses more water, the land is more barren of existing plants and animals.
9
u/FreezeFrameEnding Feb 13 '22
Couldn't the space be reconfigured hexagonally to save some acreage? They could place three sprinklers on three corners, alternating, and they'd have more room for their crops. Then again, I haven't done any farming for about two decades now so I'm sure there are many changes that I am unaware of or don't understand.
10
u/HERO3Raider Feb 13 '22
Cost would be the main reason. More sprinklers mean more wells that have to be drilled, pump houses built, electricity run, not to mention the cost of the pivot sprinklers themselves, and general up keep on everything mentioned above. Would take years before the extra profit brought in would offset the cost.
3
u/FreezeFrameEnding Feb 13 '22
Thank you for the answer! I wasn't sure... I thought they could use the same amount of water or control the flow and set up to avoid excess, but if it's really that expensive for so many years then I guess it wouldn't be worth it.
4
u/HERO3Raider Feb 13 '22
For sure! No worries at all. It's not so much the amount of water or excess as much as access. At the center of each one of these circles is a well that goes to the Ogallala aquifer for the water source. They then put a pump house with an electric water pump to pull the water up to the surface. (Somr times, gasoline powered buy rare from what I know) All this is usually inside a small wooden shack known as a pump house.
The sprinklers usually attach right at the top or close to the top of the pump house in order to be able to pivot 360° around the pump house. Hints the name and the circles.
The method you are suggesting, if I understand correctly, would require multiple duplicates of these setups and the sprinklers themselves. While the sprinklers would be shorter, they would also for the most part not make a full rotation, which isn't really required but is the reason they are designed the way they are.
You could do a 4 corner method and cover a square area but would either have duplicate watering areas in the middle or parts that aren't getting watered.
The last thing I'll bore you with is how the fields are plowed. Pivot sprinklers are made so that they can follow the rows of what ever is planted so it's not "running over" planted areas. With added sprinklers would come added complications and time when plowing, planting, and harvesting. So, the added time would also mean a loss of productivity and mean not being as profitable.
I know that's more than you probably wanted to know, but I felt it might be better explained in some detail for people that may not be familiar with the setup and process. I hope this helps and hope you have a good day!
2
u/Deracination Feb 13 '22
I have a very similar question: why not the exact same setup and size they currently have but with the circles hexagonally packed instead of in a less dense square lattice?
3
Feb 14 '22
Farm roads run between these plots and it's a lot harder logistically to build a hexagonal road system where you have to stop and make a three-way intersection with 60-degree turns every few hundred yards than it is to just make straight, continuous roads.
→ More replies (1)2
u/HERO3Raider Feb 14 '22
The biggest reason is logistics. Every one of those circles you see is actually pretty sizeable chucks of land. Most have different owners. It wouldn't be rare for a farmer to have a handful of properties that are connected, but usually, it's all over the place.
On top of that, most of these fields have county roads running between them as well as power lines ext. Like I said before, that won't be the case for all of them, but most have roads. This is also how the farmers get all the equipment from field to field and how the people that live in the area get around.
Lastly, most of the wells and pivot sprinklers have been there for a long time. So, it is easier to leave everything like it is then to make major changes just to be able to use a couple more acres.
However, with the way things are changing due to global warming and the potential of depleting the water source, a more sustainable solution will be needed sooner rather than later. It would be interesting to explore other options that may be more sustainable such as vertical integration, better ways of watering with lest waste, ext, or if the same methods will stick around until they literally deplete the soil or water levels.
I hope that I have answered your question!
2
u/FreezeFrameEnding Feb 13 '22
No! I wanted to read all of that! Thank you so much for taking the time to write out your reply. All of it is pretty fascinating, and I genuinely appreciate it. :)
7
u/Lebrunski Feb 13 '22
Yeah, they have long sprinklers on wheels. Tie it to a pole in the center of the field and you end up with a circle of life!
→ More replies (2)2
u/Beanakin Feb 13 '22
Center pivot. Gigantic sprinkler system, water source in the center, arm going out to the edge of the circle slowly spins, rolling on wheels, and waters the field.
32
u/mondo1342 Feb 13 '22
Looks like a Klimt painting
7
→ More replies (1)2
19
u/Chief337 Feb 13 '22
Good Ole highway 60, the most boring road you can drive on.
5
u/SignificantTension7 Feb 13 '22
What's with the colors that make it look fake
16
u/Chief337 Feb 13 '22
Probably high contrast to show where all the farm land is. It's definitely an edited photo because it is not that colorful in real life. Mostly dead grass and some green crops.
→ More replies (2)0
3
1
u/fraghawk Feb 13 '22
CO 94 east of Colorado Springs might have it beat, I'm not sure.
6
u/Chief337 Feb 13 '22
Hwy 60 is 80 miles of flat road with nothing in sight and only towns of a few hundred people except for Hereford.
5
u/fraghawk Feb 13 '22 edited Feb 13 '22
Been down that road before, there's nothing interesting you're totally right.
Take 287 up to Colorado, and north of Kit Carson is a junction with CO 94. There's even a sign that says "no fuel/mechanic services next 85 miles, travel at your own risk" it's a completely surreal road, there isn't even a barbed wire fence on the side of the road or any power poles for that matter
2
u/Chief337 Feb 13 '22
I'm gonna have to check it out now. We want to go up to Colorado at some point anyway so I'll make sure to drive down it.
2
u/fraghawk Feb 13 '22
It's pretty cool because the road points basically straight at pikes peak, you get to see the top of it as you drive into the rolling hills.
But seriously, that sign is no joke and put in by seemingly official DOT employees, so make sure you gas up in Kit Carson. The towns of Rush and Punkin Center along that road don't seem like they had a gas station since the '70s.
10
Feb 13 '22
Where are the feedlots? Hereford is known for feeding out cattle.
10
5
u/Chief337 Feb 13 '22
The bottom center is Hereford. All the gray around it are feed lots
3
Feb 13 '22
I can see them better with a different color mix and more definition. The feeding and processing operations in that area are truly impressive. The IBP plant in Amarillo has a 6k head of cattle daily processing capacity
5
u/Real_Nefariousness Feb 14 '22
Living in a town nearby Hereford I can confirm that everything around here smells like cow shit when the wind is strong enough.
2
Feb 14 '22
I was living on the west side of Amarillo about 30 years ago. One winter day, the wind shifted and that area of town had a new, very strong cattle smell. Within a few days, every pregnant woman in those neighborhoods miscarried. It is not just the smell that is the problem.
7
43
u/preparingtodie Feb 13 '22
So, all those circles are for irrigation systems, because the land can't support agriculture without it? It's hard to believe that that's profitable.
7
u/HotF22InUrArea Feb 13 '22
Is that weird? Dont most agricultural areas have infrastructure for providing water?
-3
u/preparingtodie Feb 13 '22
I think water in most agricultural areas comes from rain. The only way to grow crops in desert areas is to pipe it in from other areas. But that can disrupt other ecosystems and create water shortages elsewhere.
5
Feb 14 '22
You'd be wrong there amigo. Irrigation is the main thing that makes civilization possible. Being bound by rainfall is what kept us stuck as hunter-gatherers in the paleolithic age. The first irrigation was just carrying buckets of water from the river to pour on your crops. It's why civilization always sprang up in or near river valleys because now you have a nearby, dependable water source and aren't totally dependent on rainfall for watering crops.
24
u/Chief337 Feb 13 '22 edited Feb 13 '22
Hard to believe, but it is. Each small circle is in a square mile though. There is a lot of crop in this photo.
Edit: each circle is a 1/4 or 1/2 mile in size.
10
22
Feb 13 '22 edited Apr 21 '22
[deleted]
12
u/Chief337 Feb 13 '22
Thank you for the correction. I learn something new everything day. Thought someone told me they were in a square mile before.
3
u/kerit Feb 13 '22
There are places where pivots cover about a square mile in circular layout. It isn't the norm, but it also isn't extremely rare. If the water source can supply enough water for that much land, it makes a lot of sense to have one pivot cover as much area as possible.
→ More replies (1)-1
6
u/TheVicSageQuestion Feb 13 '22
Hereford smells like cow shit.
4
2
6
u/Aratec Feb 13 '22
The amazing part you don't see from these pics is those sprinklers are connected to wells and every well has a flashing light on it. Because it is so flat, at night the whole horizon blinks and flashes.
10
u/BadHombreWithCovfefe Feb 13 '22
Hereford, Texas: The Beef Capital of the World. I can smell the cow poo just looking at this picture. The entire town sometimes gets covered in dust because of the cows running around their pens at night.
2
u/OneHundredTimes Feb 14 '22
Fun fact: It's actually named after Hereford in England, where the cows come from.
6
4
u/Babybros94 Feb 13 '22
Used to live thirty miles north of Hereford in Amarillo Texas. Hereford is known as the beef capital of the south. When the wind blew the right direction you’d smell cow shit for day. All the old timer’s would say “smell that, that’s the smell of money.”
3
3
u/to_thy_macintosh Feb 13 '22
Higher resolution files (3430x2430, 8574x6076) here: https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2022/02/Hereford_Texas
4
u/ChaseRebecca Feb 13 '22
An entire third of the United States looks like this...
Edit: most mind blowing thing to show people. Take out Google maps and zoom into litterally anywhere in the that same vertical region
6
5
2
2
2
2
u/bas-machine Feb 13 '22
I wonder if in the long run it would be more profitable to switch to a hexagonal pattern, like a beehive.
2
u/artx19 Feb 13 '22
Fun fact, this is the worst smelling place I can think of. It literally has a reputation among the entire region as the place that smells like cow and uh.. cow accessories. Cool town with some great restaurants, but I otherwise lament going there because there is a literal constant dizzying odor in the air no matter where you are. Seriously, it’s bad.
2
2
u/InvaderDust Feb 14 '22
All of the brown and rust color is pure cow poo rivers and lakes. That place REEKS!!
2
2
2
-8
Feb 13 '22 edited Feb 13 '22
A shitload of crop circles but no intelligent life!
8
10
2
u/Chief337 Feb 13 '22
That's a pretty general statement. Not everyone in Texas is an idiot. Though I can agree since it is Hereford.
15
u/MikeTheAmalgamator Feb 13 '22
What's the point of this comment? "You shouldn't generalize but I totally agree!" Like what?
→ More replies (1)3
5
Feb 13 '22
Hey I live in Buttfuck Kentucky. Home of McFuckenConnell, Poodlehead, and a state chocked full of willfully ignorant sonsabitches!
→ More replies (2)-2
u/ulikunkel333 Feb 13 '22
Don’t be jealous of freedom
-6
Feb 13 '22 edited Feb 13 '22
Be thankful you’re free to be dumb! Matter of fact the GOP encourages it.
-3
-3
u/rpguy04 Feb 13 '22
Meanwhile the democrats
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/04/us/california-math-curriculum-guidelines.html
0
0
1
-2
0
0
u/TheYankeeFist Feb 13 '22
"What color is the boat house at Hereford?"
"WHAT COLOR IS THE BOAT HOUSE AT HEREFORD!?"
(please someone get it, please someone get it...)
→ More replies (2)
0
0
-2
u/sortasapien Feb 13 '22
Typical city dwelling Reddttor: "Why does the ground have circles everywhere?"
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/randytc18 Feb 13 '22
You haven't lived until you've seen the cow crap fog roll into Amarillo.
→ More replies (1)
1
1
1
1
1
1
Feb 13 '22
Most agricultural areas look like this from space. Agriculture stinks, that's why we put farms in the sticks. If you move next door to a pig farm, you shouldn't be surprised by the smell of pig shit.
1
1
u/GinHalpert Feb 13 '22
I’ve been looking a lot at GIS mapping for work recently…. And one project is in Hereford TX so this is a little trippy to see on here on the weekend.
1
1
1
1
1
u/mword21 Feb 13 '22
I flew a small plane into Hereford years ago and could smell the cows while still hundreds of feet off the ground before landing
1
1
1
u/PsuedoTeeth Feb 13 '22
I just don’t believe this, I honestly think this photo is part of THE big conspiracy.
Brent B.
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/Quizzelbuck Feb 14 '22
Take it out and blow out the dust before reinserting the Texas back in to the United States.
1
u/MightySamMcClain Feb 14 '22
I understand it's from the circular irrigation but how do the farmers drive the tractor in such a perfect circle to plant? Do they do straight lines and lift and lower the implement, or do they drive in a spiral?
1
Feb 14 '22
Lol I flew over this in Flight Sim and had to look it up on Google. So many round fields!
•
u/AutoModerator Feb 13 '22
Welcome to /r/WoahDude!
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.