Towards Monitoring Waterlogging with Remote Sensing for Sustainable Irrigated Agriculture

Nadja Den Besten,Pieter Van Der Zaag,Richard De Jeu,Susan Steele-Dunne

doi:10.3390/rs13152929

Nadja Den Besten, Pieter Van Der Zaag + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13152929

Copy DOI

Abstract

Waterlogging is an increasingly important issue in irrigated agriculture that has a detrimental impact on crop productivity. The above-ground effect of waterlogging on crops is hard to distinguish from water deficit stress with remote sensing, as responses such as stomatal closure and leaf wilting occur in both situations. Currently, waterlogging as a source of crop stress is not considered in remote sensing-based evaporation algorithms and this may therefore lead to erroneous interpretation for irrigation scheduling. Monitoring waterlogging can improve evaporation models to assist irrigation management. In addition, frequent spatial information on waterlogging will provide agriculturalists information on land trafficability, assist drainage design, and crop choice. This article provides a scientific perspective on the topic of waterlogging by consulting literature in the disciplines of agronomy, hydrology, and remote sensing. We find the solution to monitor waterlogging lies in a multi-sensor approach. Future scientific routes should focus on monitoring waterlogging by combining remote sensing and ancillary data. Here, drainage parameters deduced from high spatial resolution Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) can play a crucial role. The proposed approaches may provide a solution to monitor and prevent waterlogging in irrigated agriculture.

Highlights

Published: 26 July 2021In irrigated agriculture, waterlogging is a common problem with detrimental impact on crop productivity [1]
Stress resulting from waterlogging can be wrongly interpreted as a need for irrigation, while adding more irrigation water might worsen waterlogging problems [30]
Scientific reviews on remotely sensed evaporation algorithms for irrigation focus mainly on water deficit stress [22,26,75,76,77,78], and do not consider stress resulting from waterlogging

Summary

Introduction

In irrigated agriculture, waterlogging is a common problem with detrimental impact on crop productivity [1]. Roughly twenty percent of irrigated land is burdened by waterlogging and secondary soil salinization resulting from over-irrigation or poor sub-surface drainage [5] This is especially the case for (semi-)arid areas with high evaporation rates [6]. We review approaches that have proved successful in the field of inundation detection and discuss how they might be adapted to address the challenges associated with monitoring waterlogging in irrigated agriculture These aspects will be synthesized to present a roadmap towards the development of a methodology to monitor waterlogging with remote sensing for sustainable irrigated agriculture

Waterlogging and Its Impact

Waterlogging and Satellite Remote Sensing

Detection of Waterlogging with Different Remote Sensing Techniques

Downscaling Using Ancillary Data

Findings

Conclusions