EO Land Training: Irrigation Mapping, Detection and Quantification

This training video is from the ESA 12th Advanced Training Course on Land Remote Sensing. This presentation looks at the critical role of satellite technology in monitoring and managing global irrigation, which consumes over 70% of the world’s freshwater. Limited access to accurate irrigation data has long challenged sustainable water management, but advances in soil moisture sensing, particularly with ESA’s Sentinel-1 and CYGNSS satellites, now allow real-time tracking of soil hydration levels. Using techniques like soil moisture inversion and microwave sensing, satellites can map irrigated areas and quantify water use with increasing precision.