A Review: Remote Sensing of Global Croplands for Food Security

ISBN: 978-1-4200-9009-3

Remote sensing began primarily with the military, but became a scientific subject after World War II. Remote sensing refers to the technology of acquiring information about the earth's surface, land, ocean and atmosphere. 

 

Using sensors on various platforms, such as aircraft, balloons, satellite and space shuttles. Since the 1940s the technology has improved and along with the understanding and the ability to decipher the information gained from the data gathered. 

 

The range of remote sensing applications includes archaeology, agriculture, cartography, civil engineering, meteorology and climatology, coastal studies, emergency response, forestry, geology, geographic information systems, hazards, land use and land cover, natural disasters, oceanography, water resources.

In 2009 this publication was published by Taylor & Francis and is part of a series in remote sensing applications, edited by Prasad S. Thenkabail, John G. Lyon, Hugh Turral, and Chandashekhar M. Biradar and series editor Qihao Weng.

This book is split in to eight sections:

Section one deals with the background and history of global irrigated area maps (GIAM)

• Context and need and scope for mapping global irrigated and rain fed areas
• A history of irrigated areas of the world

Section two looks at global irrigated area maps (GIAM) and statistics using remote

sensing.

Section three looks at GIAM mapping section for selected global regions:

• Uncertainty of estimating irrigated areas in China
• Irrigated areas of India derived from satellite sensors and national statistics:
• A way forward from GIAM experience
• Mapping Irrigated Lands across the United States Using MODIS Satellite Imagery
• Use of Remote Sensing to Map Irrigated Agriculture in Areas Overlying the Ogallala Aquifer, United States
• Assessing the Extent of Urban Irrigated Areas in the United States
• The challenges of mapping irrigated areas in a temperate climate : Experiences from England
• Irrigated Area Mapping in the CWANA Region and Its Use in Spatial Applications for Land Use Planning, Poverty Mapping and Water Resources Management
• Subpixel Mapping of Rice Paddy Fields over Asia Using MODIS Time Series

Section four covers Evapotranspiration Models, Water Use, and Irrigated Area

Section five covers Rain-Fed Cropland Areas of the World

Section six Methods of Mapping Croplands Using Remote Sensing

Section seven Accuracies and Errors

Section eight Way Forward in Mapping Global Irrigated and Rain-Fed Croplands

This book Remote Sensing of Global Croplands for Food Security covers a broad spectrum of how remote sensing can be used to better understand our use of water and irrigation systems and rain fed crop lands around the world. It also highlights that with improving technology and better interpretation that remote sensing will play a key role in future decisions relating to climate change and population growth. 

 

A well-written book with fantastic quality images, a good book for anyone who is interested in this modern science and I believe it would also be of interest to hydrologists and agricultural students and professionals. 

 This blog is written by Martin Little, The Global Miller, published and supported by the GFMT Magazine and the International Milling Directory from Perendale Publishers