Spatiotemporal monitoring of soil salinization in irrigated Tadla Plain (Morocco) using satellite spectral indices

•The use of visible band of Landsat sensors allowed a good characterization of saline soils.•A novel spectral index (OLI-SI) is developed for spatiotemporal monitoring of soil salinity.•Soil salinity in the Tadla irrigated perimeter increased in spatial extent and decreased in intensity during the period 2000–2013.

Soil salinization is major environmental issue in irrigated agricultural production. Conventional methods for salinization monitoring are time and money consuming and limited by the high spatiotemporal variability of this phenomenon. This work aims to propose a spatiotemporal monitoring method of soil salinization in the Tadla plain in central Morocco using spectral indices derived from Thematic Mapper (TM) and Operational Land Imager (OLI) data. Six Landsat TM/OLI satellite images acquired during 13 years period (2000–2013) coupled with in-situ electrical conductivity (EC) measurements were used to develop the proposed method. After radiometric and atmospheric correction of TM/OLI images, a new soil salinity index (OLI-SI) is proposed for soil EC estimation. Validation shows that this index allowed a satisfactory EC estimation in the Tadla irrigated perimeter with coefficient of determination R2 varying from 0.55 to 0.77 and a Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) ranging between 1.02 dS/m and 2.35 dS/m. The times-series of salinity maps produced over the Tadla plain using the proposed method show that salinity is decreasing in intensity and progressively increasing in spatial extent, over the 2000–2013 period. This trend resulted in a decrease in agricultural activities in the southwestern part of the perimeter, located in the hydraulic downstream.