Modeling and Mapping of Soil Salinity and its Impact on Paddy Lands in Jaffna Peninsula, Sri Lanka

Tharani Gopalakrishnan and Lalit Kumar
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Tharani Gopalakrishnan: School of Environmental and Rural Science, University of New England, Armidale 2351, Australia
Lalit Kumar: School of Environmental and Rural Science, University of New England, Armidale 2351, Australia

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 20, 1-15

Abstract: Soil salinity is a major threat to land productivity, water resources and agriculture in coastal areas and arid and semi-arid regions of the world. This has a significantly negative effect on the land and causes desertification. Monitoring salt accumulation in the soil is crucial for the prevention of land degradation in such environments. This study attempted to estimate and map soil salinity in Jaffna Peninsula, a semi-arid region of Sri Lanka. A Partial Least Squares Regression (PLSR) model was constructed using Sentinel 2A satellite imagery and field-measured soil electrical conductivity (EC) values. The results showed that satisfactory prediction of the soil salinity could be made based on the PLSR model coupled with Sentinel 2A satellite imagery (R 2 = 0.69, RMSE = 0.4830). Overall, 32.8% of the land and 45% of paddy lands in Jaffna Peninsula are affected by salt. The findings of this study indicate that PLSR is suitable for the soil salinity mapping, especially in semi-arid regions like Jaffna Peninsula. The results underpin the importance of building adaptive capacity and implementing suitable preventive strategies for sustainable land and agricultural management.

Keywords: soil salinity; Jaffna Peninsula; Sentinel 2; remote sensing; salinity indices; soil mapping; paddy lands; sustainability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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