Identifying irrigated areas using land surface temperature and hydrological modelling: application to the Rhine basin

<p>Information about irrigation with relevant spatiotemporal resolution for understanding and modelling irrigation dynamics is important for improved water resource management. However, achieving a frequent and consistent characterization of areas where signals from rain-fed pixels overlap wit...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: D. Purnamasari, A. J. Teuling, A. H. Weerts
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Copernicus Publications 2025-03-01
Series:Hydrology and Earth System Sciences
Online Access:https://hess.copernicus.org/articles/29/1483/2025/hess-29-1483-2025.pdf
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849344543379423232
author D. Purnamasari
D. Purnamasari
A. J. Teuling
A. H. Weerts
A. H. Weerts
author_facet D. Purnamasari
D. Purnamasari
A. J. Teuling
A. H. Weerts
A. H. Weerts
author_sort D. Purnamasari
collection DOAJ
description <p>Information about irrigation with relevant spatiotemporal resolution for understanding and modelling irrigation dynamics is important for improved water resource management. However, achieving a frequent and consistent characterization of areas where signals from rain-fed pixels overlap with irrigated pixels has been challenging. Here, we identify irrigated areas using a novel framework that combines hydrological modelling and satellite observations of land surface temperature (LST). We tested the proposed methodology on the Rhine basin covering the period from 2010 to 2019 at a 1 km resolution. The result includes multiyear irrigated maps and irrigation frequency. Temporal analysis reveals that an average of 159 000 ha received irrigation at least once during the study period. The proposed methodology can approximate irrigated areas with <span class="inline-formula"><i>R</i><sup>2</sup></span> values of 0.79 and 0.77 for 2013 and 2016 compared to irrigation statistics, respectively. In dry regions, the method performs slightly better than in wet regions with <span class="inline-formula"><i>R</i><sup>2</sup></span> values of 0.90 and 0.87 in respective years, with an average improvement in <span class="inline-formula"><i>R</i><sup>2</sup></span> by 0.14. The method approximates irrigated areas in regions with large agricultural holdings better than in regions with small fragmented agricultural holdings, due to binary classification and the choice of spatial resolution. The irrigated areas are mainly identified in the established areas indicated in the existing irrigation maps. A comparison with global datasets reveals different disparities due to spatial resolution, input data, reference period, and processing techniques. From the multiyear results, the largest irrigated area was found in the Alsace region in the Rhine valley, where the irrigation extent is negatively correlated with precipitation (<span class="inline-formula"><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M4" display="inline" overflow="scroll" dspmath="mathml"><mrow><mi>r</mi><mo>=</mo><mo>-</mo><mn mathvariant="normal">0.82</mn></mrow></math><span><svg:svg xmlns:svg="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="49pt" height="10pt" class="svg-formula" dspmath="mathimg" md5hash="299065433f076373bbbe147fde16e8b4"><svg:image xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="hess-29-1483-2025-ie00001.svg" width="49pt" height="10pt" src="hess-29-1483-2025-ie00001.png"/></svg:svg></span></span>, <span class="inline-formula"><i>p</i></span> value <span class="inline-formula">=</span> 0.004) and less with potential evapotranspiration (ET).</p>
format Article
id doaj-art-0878a5ef2af84351bf73e84938874aa0
institution Kabale University
issn 1027-5606
1607-7938
language English
publishDate 2025-03-01
publisher Copernicus Publications
record_format Article
series Hydrology and Earth System Sciences
spelling doaj-art-0878a5ef2af84351bf73e84938874aa02025-08-20T03:42:38ZengCopernicus PublicationsHydrology and Earth System Sciences1027-56061607-79382025-03-01291483150310.5194/hess-29-1483-2025Identifying irrigated areas using land surface temperature and hydrological modelling: application to the Rhine basinD. Purnamasari0D. Purnamasari1A. J. Teuling2A. H. Weerts3A. H. Weerts4Hydrology and Environmental Hydraulics Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, the NetherlandsDeltares, Delft, the NetherlandsHydrology and Environmental Hydraulics Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, the NetherlandsHydrology and Environmental Hydraulics Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, the NetherlandsDeltares, Delft, the Netherlands<p>Information about irrigation with relevant spatiotemporal resolution for understanding and modelling irrigation dynamics is important for improved water resource management. However, achieving a frequent and consistent characterization of areas where signals from rain-fed pixels overlap with irrigated pixels has been challenging. Here, we identify irrigated areas using a novel framework that combines hydrological modelling and satellite observations of land surface temperature (LST). We tested the proposed methodology on the Rhine basin covering the period from 2010 to 2019 at a 1 km resolution. The result includes multiyear irrigated maps and irrigation frequency. Temporal analysis reveals that an average of 159 000 ha received irrigation at least once during the study period. The proposed methodology can approximate irrigated areas with <span class="inline-formula"><i>R</i><sup>2</sup></span> values of 0.79 and 0.77 for 2013 and 2016 compared to irrigation statistics, respectively. In dry regions, the method performs slightly better than in wet regions with <span class="inline-formula"><i>R</i><sup>2</sup></span> values of 0.90 and 0.87 in respective years, with an average improvement in <span class="inline-formula"><i>R</i><sup>2</sup></span> by 0.14. The method approximates irrigated areas in regions with large agricultural holdings better than in regions with small fragmented agricultural holdings, due to binary classification and the choice of spatial resolution. The irrigated areas are mainly identified in the established areas indicated in the existing irrigation maps. A comparison with global datasets reveals different disparities due to spatial resolution, input data, reference period, and processing techniques. From the multiyear results, the largest irrigated area was found in the Alsace region in the Rhine valley, where the irrigation extent is negatively correlated with precipitation (<span class="inline-formula"><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M4" display="inline" overflow="scroll" dspmath="mathml"><mrow><mi>r</mi><mo>=</mo><mo>-</mo><mn mathvariant="normal">0.82</mn></mrow></math><span><svg:svg xmlns:svg="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="49pt" height="10pt" class="svg-formula" dspmath="mathimg" md5hash="299065433f076373bbbe147fde16e8b4"><svg:image xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="hess-29-1483-2025-ie00001.svg" width="49pt" height="10pt" src="hess-29-1483-2025-ie00001.png"/></svg:svg></span></span>, <span class="inline-formula"><i>p</i></span> value <span class="inline-formula">=</span> 0.004) and less with potential evapotranspiration (ET).</p>https://hess.copernicus.org/articles/29/1483/2025/hess-29-1483-2025.pdf
spellingShingle D. Purnamasari
D. Purnamasari
A. J. Teuling
A. H. Weerts
A. H. Weerts
Identifying irrigated areas using land surface temperature and hydrological modelling: application to the Rhine basin
Hydrology and Earth System Sciences
title Identifying irrigated areas using land surface temperature and hydrological modelling: application to the Rhine basin
title_full Identifying irrigated areas using land surface temperature and hydrological modelling: application to the Rhine basin
title_fullStr Identifying irrigated areas using land surface temperature and hydrological modelling: application to the Rhine basin
title_full_unstemmed Identifying irrigated areas using land surface temperature and hydrological modelling: application to the Rhine basin
title_short Identifying irrigated areas using land surface temperature and hydrological modelling: application to the Rhine basin
title_sort identifying irrigated areas using land surface temperature and hydrological modelling application to the rhine basin
url https://hess.copernicus.org/articles/29/1483/2025/hess-29-1483-2025.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT dpurnamasari identifyingirrigatedareasusinglandsurfacetemperatureandhydrologicalmodellingapplicationtotherhinebasin
AT dpurnamasari identifyingirrigatedareasusinglandsurfacetemperatureandhydrologicalmodellingapplicationtotherhinebasin
AT ajteuling identifyingirrigatedareasusinglandsurfacetemperatureandhydrologicalmodellingapplicationtotherhinebasin
AT ahweerts identifyingirrigatedareasusinglandsurfacetemperatureandhydrologicalmodellingapplicationtotherhinebasin
AT ahweerts identifyingirrigatedareasusinglandsurfacetemperatureandhydrologicalmodellingapplicationtotherhinebasin