Author
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Corwin, Dennis |
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SCUDIERO, ELIA - University Of California |
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Submitted to: Book Chapter
Publication Type: Book / Chapter Publication Acceptance Date: 11/23/2017 Publication Date: N/A Citation: N/A Interpretive Summary: Agriculture and climate change are directly linked. Crop yield, water use, biodiversity, and soil health are directed affected by changes in the climate. The potential impact of climate change on soil properties and processes that influence plant productivity have been studied for a variety of properties, except soil salinity. This may be due to the fact that salinity is among the most spatially complex and temporally dynamic soil properties. It is the objective of this book chapter to provide an overview of the guidelines and protocols for mapping soil salinity at multiple scales and to present a case study for the west side of the San Joaquin Valley (WSJV) evaluating the impact of climate change on salinity development and its implications on agricultural sustainability. Field- (< 1 km2), landscape- (1-10 km2), and regional-scale (10-105 km2) soil salinity assessments of the WSJV indicate that the California drought of 2011-2015 likely caused an appreciable increase in soil salinity in the root zone. The degradation of the soil in the WSJV by salinity will require substantial leaching of salts before future crops are planted. The likelihood of recurring droughts in California and in other arid and semi-arid areas agricultural of the world suggests that an infrastructure is needed to monitor soil salinity at local, state/province, national, and global scales for agriculturally productive arid and semi-arid areas. Soil and agronomic researchers, irrigation specialists, producers, consultants, conservation and irrigation districts, commodity groups, cooperative extension, federal and state regulators, and agencies such as National Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Bureau of Reclamation, and the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) will directly benefit from timely salinity monitoring maps and spatial information derived from ground- and satellite-based sensors. Technical Abstract: Changes in climatic patterns have impacted some agricultural areas. Examples include the historic drought in California’s San Joaquin Valley (2011-2015) and the recent 18-year above average annual rainfall and snowfall in the Red River Valley of the Midwestern USA (1993-2011). Climate change has impacted soil salinity levels in the root zone for these agricultural areas. Inventorying and monitoring the extent of climate change on soil salinity is crucial to evaluate the extent of the problem, to recognize trends, and to formulate irrigation and crop management strategies that will maintain the agricultural productivity of these areas. Over the past 3 decades, scientists at the U.S. Salinity Laboratory (Riverside, CA) have developed proximal sensor (i.e., electrical resistivity and electromagnetic induction) and remote imagery (i.e., MODIS and Landsat 7) methodologies for assessing soil salinity at multiple scales: field (0.5 ha to 1 km2), landscape (1 to 10 km2), and regional (10 to 105 km2) scales. The purpose of this chapter is to provide an overview of these scale-dependent salinity assessment technologies. A case study for the west side of the San Joaquin Valley (WSJV) is presented to demonstrate the utility of these approaches in assessing soil salinity changes due to changes in climate patterns. Discussion is given to the implications of the findings with respect to the impact of climate change on soil salinity levels of the WSJV in relation to crop productivity. Land and water resource managers, producers, agriculture consultants, extension specialists, irrigation and drainage district managers, Natural Resource Conservation Service field staff, and university faculty and students are the beneficiaries of this information. |
