A global data set of the extent of irrigated land from 1900 to 2005
Irrigation intensifies land use by increasing crop yield but also impacts water resources. It affects water and energy balances and consequently the microclimate in irrigated regions. Therefore, knowledge of the extent of irrigated land is important for hydrological and crop modelling, global change...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Copernicus Publications
2015-03-01
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| Series: | Hydrology and Earth System Sciences |
| Online Access: | http://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net/19/1521/2015/hess-19-1521-2015.pdf |
| Summary: | Irrigation intensifies land use by increasing crop yield but also impacts
water resources. It affects water and energy balances and consequently the
microclimate in irrigated regions. Therefore, knowledge of the extent of
irrigated land is important for hydrological and crop modelling, global
change research, and assessments of resource use and management. Information
on the historical evolution of irrigated lands is limited. The new global
historical irrigation data set (HID) provides estimates of the temporal
development of the area equipped for irrigation (AEI) between 1900 and 2005
at 5 arcmin resolution. We collected sub-national irrigation statistics
from various sources and found that the global extent of AEI increased from
63 million ha (Mha) in 1900 to 111 Mha in 1950 and 306 Mha in 2005.
We developed eight gridded versions of time series of AEI by combining
sub-national irrigation statistics with different data sets on the historical
extent of cropland and pasture. Different rules were applied to maximize
consistency of the gridded products to sub-national irrigation statistics or
to historical cropland and pasture data sets. The HID reflects very well the
spatial patterns of irrigated land as shown on historical maps for the
western United States (around year 1900) and on a global map (around year
1960). Mean aridity on irrigated land increased and mean natural river discharge
on irrigated land decreased from 1900 to 1950 whereas aridity decreased and
river discharge remained approximately constant from 1950 to 2005. The
data set and its documentation are made available in an open-data repository
at <a href="https://mygeohub.org/publications/8"target="_blank">https://mygeohub.org/publications/8</a> (doi:10.13019/M20599). |
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| ISSN: | 1027-5606 1607-7938 |