Solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) tracks variations in the soil-plant available water (PAW): a multiyear analysis on three crops

Restrictions in the soil water availability can strongly impact crop productivity. The increasing frequency and severity of drought events, as a result of global warming, has made the assessment of drought stress effects on vegetation of utmost importance for meeting humanity’s agricultural production needs. Recent advances in remote sensing of solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) provide a basis for new approaches to direct assess crop water status, since SIF is closely related to photosynthesis and, thus, to early plant physiological processes triggered by limitations in the water supply. This study provides new insights into the effect of varying levels of plant available water (PAW) in the soil on SIF emissions. We used several SIF datasets acquired with the high-performance airborne imaging spectrometer HyPlant during five subsequent vegetation periods (2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022), each having a different precipitation regime. We normalized the SIF maps for the underlying effects of canopy structure, calculated SIF emission efficiency (eSIF) and selected various crop fields including sugar beet, wheat and potato. Maps of eSIF were compared with spatial PAW patterns, which were derived from a forward soil infiltration model. Our results show positive correlation between eSIF and PAW in rainfed sugar beet fields at early growing stage, which remained consistent when accounting for variations in the leaf area index (LAI). This suggests that eSIF variations in sugar beet reflect the spatial reduction of photosynthesis caused by reduced PAW. In irrigated potato fields, conversely, no eSIF-PAW correlations were found. This indicates the absence of leaf-level water stress in these well-irrigated fields. In rainfed winter wheat fields that were already in a late developmental stage, the variations in the SIF signal were dominated by locally different ripening, i.e., chlorophyll degradation, and therefore not representative of changing PAW. With this study, we could demonstrate that normalized airborne SIF measurements are related to the functional water stress response in different crops. This study supports future investigations on the development of SIF-based tools for the improvement of water management in agriculture. • eSIF correlates with soil-plant water (PAW), revealing crop water responses. • Airborne spectroscopy captures canopy responses to soil moisture changes. • Rainfed sugar beet shows strong eSIF-PAW links to early-season water variation. • Irrigated potato shows no eSIF-PAW link due to consistent water supply. • SIF-based sensing can support better water-use efficiency in agriculture.