Development of Methodological Approaches for the Assessment of the Status of Irrigated Lands in the South of the European Part of Russia Based on Space-Surveying Materials

The article outlines the main provisions of the methodological approach to the assessment of the condition of irrigated lands in the south of the European part of Russia based on satellite imagery from Landsat-8 satellite and ground-based observations. The visual and automated methods based on it were used to decipher irrigated lands from satellite images, and their possible determination with the use of the following indicators necessary for the monitoring the state of irrigated lands was considered: (1) the area of irrigated massifs, (2) the area of a long-term fallow in irrigated massifs, (3) the area of irrigated fields under different crops, (4) the genesis of the spotting of irrigated fields due to the state of cultivated crops and soil properties. The performed work is the first step towards the establishment of the monitoring of irrigated lands based on remote sensing. The article used the optimal type and dates of surveying satellite images, developed decryption features to assess the condition of crops and the properties of irrigated soils, and developed a technology for the automated decoding of satellite images to identify the spotting of irrigated fields based on the algorithm of decision trees.