Mines and Wines - A monitoring program to gauge the impact of subsidence on spatial variability in vineyard production

Abstract

This paper describes a project designed to identify any spatial variability in a range of vine productivity or biophysical attributes that may result from subsidence caused by an underground, punch-longwall coal mine. Using some of the latest in vineyard monitoring technologies, a multi-scale, multi-temporal dataset is being compiled on single vineyard blocks and over whole vineyards located over the longwall mining area. The aim is to compare datasets from before and after subsidence. At the vineyard block scale, descriptors of grape quantity and quality arc collected from an array of individual vines at harvest, whilst pruning data are being used to quantify canopy vigour and year-to-year development. Whole vineyard scale data collection includes twice-yearly EM-38 apparent soil conductivity surveys and satellite imagery of vine canopies and inter-row crops 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 only just commenced in March 2005 and the last, uppermost longwall panel beneath the vineyards will be completed in 2010. Whilst the monitoring project has yet to collect sufficient post-subsidence data (at least one more season is required for the foremost of the undermined blocks), this paper reports on the design, data collection and integration methodologies to be used. A general overview of the baseline dataset collected to date is also presented.