Detecting irrigation at catchment scale over recent years (2019-2025)

The use of satellite remote sensing for mapping the spatial-temporal extent of irrigation at catchment scale is a key ingredient for effective irrigation water management. A thresholding approach based on vegetation indices and evapotranspiration metrics  was applied in the Namoi catchment in Australia to detect irrigated areas. The results show that irrigation in the catchment is heterogeneous, with no consistent increasing or decreasing trend over the classification period. In addition, the method identifies irrigated area conservatively with a high precision and moderate accuracy when evaluated against independent reference data. The findings highlight the potential of the thresholding approach for agricultural water management. Further work will focus on refining this method and linking it to quantifying irrigation water use at catchment scale.