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L’obiettivo di questa breve guida è fornire alcuni elementi sintetici per progettare, strutturare e realizzare contributi da sottomettere a riviste indicizzate per il personale del Centro Politiche e Bioeconomia. La realizzazione delle pubblicazioni è un processo difficile che richiede impegno e dedizione e non può essere improvvisato. Tale attività è oggi comunque necessaria per valorizzare sia le attività dei progetti del Centro che la carriera del singolo ricercatore. Questo documento riporta elementi utili e spunti di riflessione per approcciare alla stesura del testo di un manoscritto scientifico. Allo stesso tempo, tali elementi dovrebbero sensibilizzare il ricercatore sulle modalità e sul corretto approccio per progettare i contributi sin dalle fasi iniziali di un progetto. Di norma, è molto difficile trasformare un report di progetto in un articolo. Sarà più facile progettare l’articolo durante la vita di progetto, definendo lo stato dell’arte e gli obiettivi, successivamente i risultati ed i metodi applicati. La presente guida è certamente non esaustiva, i riferimenti forniti possono ampliare la conoscenza sui metodi di scrittura in modo estremamente solido e strutturato. La guida è strutturata secondo l’idea di un possibile flusso di lavoro: Identificazione degli obiettivi del lavoro da sottomettere ad una rivista scientifica. Identificazione e scelta della rivista. Definizione della struttura e redazione delle sezioni di un articolo. Sottomissione e gestione delle revisioni.

Bioenergy systems can play a central role in the transition towards sustainable, inclusive, resilient, low emissions and circular economies, while creating income opportunities, enhancing livelihood and access to energy for current and future generations, leaving no-one behind. However, the foundations of sustainable bioenergy systems need to be based on structured ex-ante analysis that considers specific contexts and assess possible trade-offs, either in terms of economic, environmental and social aspects. In this framework, the optimization of Land-Energy-Water nexus takes on a key significance to overcome context-specific challenges taking into account the multiple competitive uses of limited resources. Over the last decade, the use of marginal land has been emphasized as a valuable strategy for bioenergy systems to overcome the food vs fuel dilemma. Nevertheless, the cultivation of bioenergy crops on fragmented marginal areas in Italy can have significant trade-offs on the benefits derived from the establishment of local bioenergy systems, for instance on the energy balance or the final C-footprint of the value chain. The objective of this study is to perform an ex-ante assessment of the sustainability of bioenergy pathways in the Basilicata Region (Southern Italy), through a web-based platform, with a focus on local Land, Energy and Water nexus. The platform, developed in parallel with the Geographic Information System (GIS) maps, relies upon the methodologies of the Global Bioenergy Partnership Sustainability Indicators. The Web-GIS land-energy-water nexus analysis allows to compare and explore different and complex cropping scenarios and interlinkages that minimize input resources and optimize the nexus. The application of the user-friendly Web-GIS platform to the case study demonstrates the effectiveness and the usability for supporting investors and stakeholders in the decision-making process for new bioenergy investment projects that rely on biomass from underutilized and marginal lands.

Water managers need map of irrigated areas (defined as the identification of their location and their areal extent) to plan a rational use of water under limited availability and to prevent the unauthorized withdrawals. Many authors have shown that the Earth Observation techniques are an effective tool for mapping irrigated areas worldwide at different spatial scales (global/regional/and local). This study presents a methodology for mapping irrigated areas in semi-arid environment based on Earth Observation techniques and by fully exploiting datasets freely available processed by open source software and tools. Data acquired with the Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) and the new Sentinel 2A MultiSpectral Instrument (MSI) sensors were integrated to obtain cloud free dense time series allowing to monitor the vegetation development throughout the growing seasons. Irrigated areas were identified by analysing the growing patterns under water deficit conditions from NDVI values under the assumption that, in arid and semi-arid environment (like the Mediterranean Region), high trend of vegetation growth are compatible only with irrigation. The method was applied in the Cixerri Consortium Irrigation District located in South of Sardinia (Italy).

The occurrence of water shortages ascribed to projected climate change, especially in the Mediterranean region, fosters the interest in remote sensing (RS) applications to optimize water use in agriculture. Remote sensing evapotranspiration and water demand estimation over large cultivated areas were used to manage irrigation to minimize losses during the crop growing cycle. The research aimed to explore the potential of the MultiSpectral Instrument (MSI) sensor on board Sentinel-2A to estimate crop parameters, mainly surface albedo (α) and Leaf Area Index (LAI) that influence the dynamics of potential evapotranspiration (ETp) and Irrigation Water Requirements (IWR) of processing tomato crop (Solanum lycopersicum L.). Maximum tomato ETp was calculated according to the FAO Penman-Monteith equation (FAO-56 PM) using appropriate values of canopy parameters derived by processing Sentinel-2A data in combination with daily weather information. For comparison, we used the actual crop evapotranspiration (ETa) derived from the soil water balance (SWB) module in the Environmental Policy Integrated Climate (EPIC) model and calibrated with in-situ Root Zone Soil Moisture (RZSM). The experiment was set up in a privately-owned farm located in the Tarquinia irrigation district (Central Italy) during two growing seasons, within the framework of the EU Project FATIMA (FArming Tools for external nutrient Inputs and water Management). The results showed that canopy growth, maximum evapotranspiration (ETp) and IWR were accurately inferred from satellite observations following seasonal rainfall and air temperature patterns. The net estimated IWR from satellite observations for the two-growing seasons was about 272 and 338 mm in 2016 and 2017, respectively. Such estimated requirement was lower compared with the actual amount supplied by the farmer with sprinkler and drip micro-irrigation system in both growing seasons resulting in 364 (276 mm drip micro-irrigation, and 88 mm sprinkler) and 662 (574 mm drip micro-irrigation, and 88 mm sprinkler) mm, respectively. Our findings indicated the suitability of Sentinel-2A to predict tomato water demand at field level, providing useful information for optimizing the irrigation over extended farmland.

Homegrown fruits and vegetables are gaining popularity in many metropolitan areas with several facets connected to the wider urban agriculture phenomenon. At the same time, the relationship between urban food production and irrigation water is pivotal in terms of resource management. In this paper, we investigated water savings through the collection and use of harvestable rainwater from buildings’ rooftops to irrigate 2631 fruits and vegetables gardens in the urban area of Rome (Italy). The methodology makes use of existing geospatial data and data derived from satellite image classification to estimate food gardens’ irrigation requirements and harvestable rainwater from nearby buildings’ rooftops. The comparison of the annual harvestable rainwater with irrigation needs allowed for computing the proportion of water self-sufficient gardens as well as the amount of gardens whose water needs might be partially fulfilled with rainwater. Statistics were produced by land use type (horticulture, mixed crops, olive groves, orchards, and vineyards) and under the hypothesis that irrigation systems with low and high field application efficiency might be employed. We found that 19% and 33% of the gardens could be water self-sufficient for the low and high irrigation efficiency scenario, respectively. The remaining gardens, by using the available rainwater, could satisfy 22% (low efficiency) and 44% (high efficiency) of the water needs resulting in a reduction in the use of conventional water sources.

The sustainable management of water resources plays a key role in Mediterranean viticulture, characterized by scarcity and competition of available water. This study focuses on estimating the evapotranspiration and crop coefficients of table grapes vineyards trained on overhead “tendone” systems in the Apulia region (Italy). Maximum vineyard transpiration was estimated by adopting the “direct” methodology for ETp proposed by the Food and Agriculture Organization in Irrigation and Drainage Paper No. 56, with crop parameters estimated from Landsat 8 and RapidEye satellite data in combination with ground-based meteorological data. The modeling results of two growing seasons (2013 and 2014) indicated that canopy growth, seasonal and 10-day sums evapotranspiration values were strictly related to thermal requirements and rainfall events. The estimated values of mean seasonal daily evapotranspiration ranged between 4.2 and 4.1 mm·d−1, while midseason estimated values of crop coefficients ranged from 0.88 to 0.93 in 2013, and 1.02 to 1.04 in 2014, respectively. The experimental evapotranspiration values calculated represent the maximum value in absence of stress, so the resulting crop coefficients should be used with some caution. It is concluded that the retrieval of crop parameters and evapotranspiration derived from remotely-sensed data could be helpful for downscaling to the field the local weather conditions and agronomic practices and thus may be the basis for supporting grape growers and irrigation managers.