The AIDA 1 km resolution crop-specific rainfed and irrigated areas and green and blue water demands for Italy
Abstract Climate and global changes alter natural resources demand and availability for meeting societal needs. Agricultural water use remains a priority, as agriculture remains the first freshwater consumer. Accurate mapping of irrigated and rainfed crops is crucial in agro-hydrological modelling f...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Nature Portfolio
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Scientific Data |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-05390-1 |
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| Summary: | Abstract Climate and global changes alter natural resources demand and availability for meeting societal needs. Agricultural water use remains a priority, as agriculture remains the first freshwater consumer. Accurate mapping of irrigated and rainfed crops is crucial in agro-hydrological modelling for water management and policy. Taking Italy as prominent case, we present AIDA (Agricultural Irrigation Demand Analyzer), a set of high-resolution crop-specific maps of rainfed and irrigated areas and water demands. We combine very-high resolution crop-specific landcover datasets with cropland ground data and irrigation intensity maps to derive 1km-resolution maps for rainfed and irrigated crops in the entire Italian territory. A dynamic, spatially distributed agro-hydrological model with state-of-the-art inputs derives evapotranspirative demands partitioned into green water (from precipitation stored as soil moisture) and blue water (from irrigation). Our results have a linear correlation >75% and an error <20% w.r.t. subnational statistics in >80% of the areas. Despite limitations due to inputs, assumptions on hydrological processes and agricultural practices, AIDA complements existing hydrological models and land use datasets for Italy. |
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| ISSN: | 2052-4463 |