Earth Observation for Sustainable Agricultural Water Management

Dear Colleagues,

Sustainable management of agricultural water resources represents one of the most pressing challenges for global food security and environmental resilience. Increasing pressures from climate variability, population growth, and intensified agricultural practices demand innovative approaches for monitoring and optimizing water use. In this context, Earth Observation (EO) and remote sensing technologies have emerged as powerful tools to support informed decision-making, improve irrigation efficiency, and enhance the sustainability of agricultural systems at multiple spatial and temporal scales.

This Special Issue aims to bring together cutting-edge research, methodological advances, and practical applications that leverage EO data and related technologies for sustainable agricultural water management. In particular, we welcome contributions that explore the integration of EO data with ground-based measurements, modeling frameworks, and data analytics techniques to assess and manage water use across diverse agroecosystems.

For this reason, we invite high-quality interdisciplinary studies that include (but are not limited to) the following areas:

• Applications of multispectral, hyperspectral, thermal, and SAR data for estimating crop evapotranspiration, plant water status, and irrigation performance;
• Mapping irrigated areas and assessing spatiotemporal dynamics of agricultural water demand;
• Soil moisture retrieval, land surface energy balance modeling, and soil–plant–atmosphere interactions in irrigated systems;
• Integration of EO data within situ sensors, meteorological records, and hydrological models for irrigation management and water allocation;
• Data fusion, artificial intelligence, and machine learning approaches for water-use monitoring and decision support;
• Development of operational tools, platforms, and services supporting precision irrigation and policy design for sustainable water governance.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Grazia Tosi
Dr. Alessandra Vinci
Guest Editors

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