Version 1
: Received: 10 April 2023 / Approved: 11 April 2023 / Online: 11 April 2023 (03:38:13 CEST)
How to cite:
El Afandi, G.; Ismael, H.; Fall, S.; Ankumah, R. Effectiveness of Utilizing Remote Sensing and GIS Techniques to Estimate the Exposure to Agricultural Pesticides Drift over Macon, Alabama. Preprints2023, 2023040182. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202304.0182.v1
El Afandi, G.; Ismael, H.; Fall, S.; Ankumah, R. Effectiveness of Utilizing Remote Sensing and GIS Techniques to Estimate the Exposure to Agricultural Pesticides Drift over Macon, Alabama. Preprints 2023, 2023040182. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202304.0182.v1
El Afandi, G.; Ismael, H.; Fall, S.; Ankumah, R. Effectiveness of Utilizing Remote Sensing and GIS Techniques to Estimate the Exposure to Agricultural Pesticides Drift over Macon, Alabama. Preprints2023, 2023040182. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202304.0182.v1
APA Style
El Afandi, G., Ismael, H., Fall, S., & Ankumah, R. (2023). Effectiveness of Utilizing Remote Sensing and GIS Techniques to Estimate the Exposure to Agricultural Pesticides Drift over Macon, Alabama. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202304.0182.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
El Afandi, G., Souleymane Fall and Ramble Ankumah. 2023 "Effectiveness of Utilizing Remote Sensing and GIS Techniques to Estimate the Exposure to Agricultural Pesticides Drift over Macon, Alabama" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202304.0182.v1
Abstract
Agricultural workers utilize pesticides extensively on their farms to control weeds and insects, as well as increase crop productivity. Despite these advantages, their excessive use poses a seri-ous threat, particularly to the population living at the nexus of urban and rural areas. Exposure to pesticide drift can be investigated using geospatial tools. Remote sensing technology and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) techniques have been used intensively and constitute trusted tools in different sectors, especially in agriculture. Remote sensing depends on pro-cessing the electromagnetic radiation reflected and emitted from the ground target and can be used to identify the spectral signature of crops exposed to pesticides. GIS has powerful tools for building a spatial geo-database of pesticide exposure drift. Therefore, the major objective of the research was to explore the effectiveness of using remote sensing and GIS techniques to estimate the exposure to pesticides in Macon County (Alabama). To achieve this objective, Maximum Likelihood Classification (MLC) was used to identify accurate cropland areas. The Landsat-8 and Sentinel-2 satellite images. Available agricultural pesticide usage data (seven of the seventeen organophosphates used in Alabama) were obtained through the United States Geological Survey (USGS). The results indicated that 6.6% of Macon County’s residents are considered potentially severely exposed, and the potentially affected population resides primarily in rural areas. While 23 percent of residents of rural edges are considered to have potentially medium to high expo-sure. In addition, 38% of residents living in suburban areas are considered to have potentially low-to-medium exposure. Also, the results indicated that both GIS and remote sensing can play an effective role in estimating pesticide exposure drift.
Keywords
Agricultural pesticides; spray drift; MLC
Subject
Environmental and Earth Sciences, Environmental Science
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
