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ETXIS Project

Framework

In Alto Alentejo there is a high production of wine, which enriches the region economically. However, climate change has been causing irregular rainfall and drier conditions in the Iberian Peninsula, which causes significant impacts on ecosystems and agriculture, particularly wine production. This can affect the general quality of the grapes, reducing their sugar content and affecting the balance of acids and phenolic compounds, impacting their flavor, aroma and winemaking capacity, which would then influence the quality of the wine. Therefore, the Etxis team intends to investigate the impact of climate change on grape production, particularly on the grape's life cycle and the changes it has undergone over the last 8 years.

Project Objectives

Through ESA's SNAP (Sentinel Application Platform), an ideal software for observation, processing and analysis of Earth images, we will use and analyze satellite images of vineyards in Alto Alentejo, in order to infer a relationship between the Vegetation Index by difference standardized (NDVI) and wine quality.
Vegetation index- A mathematical model or algorithm that evaluates and characterizes vegetation cover in a given area. There are several vegetation indices, the most popular in the scientific world being the NDVI, which calculates the ratio between reflected light (green light) and absorbed light (red light).
The data obtained through image processing will then be used to contrast with data relating to the quantity of grapes produced per area, the harvest date and the average annual temperature of the years studied, thus aiming to obtain a relationship between these data.

Development

On January 9th, we visited the Terras d'Alter winery. The objective was to show the ESPS 12⁰A class how the grape winemaking process works. We visited the laboratory, where wine quality control is carried out, including tasting and evaluating the different parameters that characterize it (such as alcohol content), the various places where the winemaking stages take place and the cellar itself where stores and ages the wine.

Final Presentation