Remote sensing is a viable tool for mapping soil salinity in agricultural lands

Soil salinity negatively impacts the productivity and profitability of western San Joaquin Valley (WSJV) farmland. Many factors, including drought, climate change, reduced water allocations, and land-use changes could worsen salinity conditions there, and in other agricultural lands in the state. Mapping soil salinity at regional and state levels is essential for identifying drivers and trends in agricultural soil salinity, and for developing mitigation strategies, but traditional soil sampling for salinity does not allow for accurate large-scale mapping. We tested remote-sensing modeling to map root zone soil salinity for farmland in the WSJV. According to our map, 0.78 million acres are salt affected (i.e., ECe > 4 dS/m), which represents 45% of the mapped farmland; 30% of that acreage is strongly or extremely saline. Independent validations of the remote-sensing estimations indicated acceptable to excellent correspondences, except in areas of low salinity and high soil heterogeneity. Remote sensing is a viable tool for helping landowners make decisions about land use and also for helping water districts and state agencies develop salinity mitigation strategies.