Designing a multi-scale, multi-temporal data collection program to monitor the impact of longwall mine subsidence on vineyard production

Abstract

This paper describes a project to identify and quantify changes in vineyard production resulting from subsidence caused by an underground, punch-longwall coal mine. A multi-scale, multi-temporal dataset is being compiled at three scales: single vineyard blocks; whole vineyards; and entire growing region. The aim is to compare datasets from before and after subsidence. At the vineyard-block scale, descriptors of grape quantity and quality are collected from an array of individual vines at harvest, whilst pruning data are being used to quantify canopy vigour and year-to-year development. In one particular vineyard block, three capacitance soil moisture probes are also providing regular soil moisture data at locations corresponding to maximum and minimum expected subsidence. Whole vineyard scale data collection includes automatic grape yield mapping using a harvester-mounted yield monitor, twice-yearly EM-38 apparent soil conductivity surveys and detailed elevation modelling. At the regional scale Quickbird satellite imagery are being captured at the phenological stages of flowering and veraison for each year of monitoring. A moving data collection footprint has been designed to capture data two years preceding and two years following the progression of undermining and its associated subsidence. Undermining of the vineyard region followed the 2005 harvest and as a result no post subsidence data are available. This paper reports on project design, data collection and integration methodologies used for vineyard monitoring and presents an overview of the baseline dataset.