Use of Geoinformatics Techniques for the Assessment and Mapping of Soil Salinity: Concepts and Applications

Abstract

Irrigated agriculture has a major impact on the environment, especially soil degradation. Soil salinity is a critical environmental problem, which has great impact on soil fertility and overall agricultural productivity. Since, soil salinity processes are highly dynamic, the methods of detecting soil salinity hazards should also be dynamic. Remote sensing data are modern tools that provide information on variation over time essential for environmental monitoring and change detection, as they also help in the reduction of conventional time-consuming and expensive field sampling methods, which is the traditional method of monitoring and assessment. This chapter thus reviewed the concepts and applications of remote sensing, GIS-assisted spatial analysis and modelling of the salinity issue in irrigation fields. Generally, compared to the labour, time and money invested in field work devoted to collecting soil salinity data and analysis, the availability and ease of acquiring satellite imagery data and analysis made this concept very attractive and efficient.