Two Mediterranean irrigation communities in front of water scarcity: A comparison using satellite image time series

• We identify the remote sensing images endured by local precipitation.
• We discover the anomalies detected in crop greenness and wetness due to local precipitation.
• We find out similar irrigation methods and amounts of water applied in both irrigation communities.
• There is not any distinction in crop wetness between water scarcity and water surplus periods.
• Crop substitution and timing crop cycle are the farmers' practices to avoid water scarcity.

Although a number of studies have analysed the methods to monitor crop water needs, the integration of phenological dynamics and irrigation using water stored in reservoirs has received little attention. This study is an example of such analysis applied to two irrigation communities (IC) located in a Spanish Mediterranean area, one with less water resources than the other, which it was carried out between 2002 and 2008. These years comprised periods of water surplus and water scarcity including the 2007–2008 drought considered by the Catalan public water authority the worst since 1944. The dynamics of maize, alfalfa, fruit trees and poplars were analysed using greenness and wetness extracted from remote sensing data. A statistical analysis was applied in order to find out the relationship between crop wetness and stored water. Results show that the IC used two methods for water-saving: crop substitution, by decreasing the area of maize, and timing the crop cycle, delaying or advancing sowing depending on water availability. In conclusion although one IC is drier in rainfall terms than the other, a similar crop wetness status was detected and no difference was observed between periods of water scarcity and water surplus.