 The researchers used Landsat-5 thematic mapper satellite imagery to estimate basal crop of apotranspiration, ETCB, in San Joaquin Valley fields during 2008. They found a strong correlation between normalized difference vegetation index, NDVI, and green fractional cover, FC, of 49 commercial fields planted to 18 different crop types. This allowed them to develop a regression equation which could be used to estimate FC for crop cycles of broccoli, bell peppers, head lettuce, and garlic on nominal 7-9 day intervals. Using this equation, they calculated basal crop coefficients, KCB, and estimated daily ETCB for each field. The researchers also compared their results with FAO-56 irrigation guidelines and prior lysimeter observations for reference. This article was authored by Thomas J. Trout and Lef Johnson.