Using geomorphologic and spectral analysis approaches for mapping salinity within an arid environmental context [electronic resource].

Includes references.

Salinization is the process of accumulation of soluble salts in soils, particularly occurring in arid and semi-arid regions, where precipitation is too low to maintain a regular percolation of rainwater through the soil. It is well known that salt concentration in soil has negative impact on crop growth, which results in reduced crop yield. Detecting salinity hazard is an important issue in precision agriculture. The aim of this work has been to carry out salinity mapping within an environmental context in the northern part of Bahariya Oasis (198.0 km') in Egypt, where soil salinity appears to be a major threat to agricultural production. In order to map soil salinity in an efficient way a step-wise approach is proposed using remote sensing and topographic data. The area is first subjected to geomorphic analysis for which a stereo-model is generated using satellite data and a digital elevation model is derived from interpolating contours lines. The second step is the application of a band rotation technique to transform near-infrared and red spectral bands to derive a soil line. The Soil line minimizes vegetation influence while maximizing spectral response from bare soil. Soil line values were used to map soil salinity levels. For the purpose of validation soil line values were correlated with topsoil conductivity measurements. Geopedologic modeling gave an overall view of the depth where salinization is active.

Summary in Arabic.

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