Land degradation due of soil salinization is a global problem adversely influencing soil quality, vegetation, food security, terrestrial ecosystem functioning and human health. Knowledge of spatio-temporal distribution and likelihood of (re)occurrence of salt affected soils is crucial to our understanding of land degradation and for planning effective remediation strategies in face of future climatic uncertainties. In this paper, we have predicted the long term dynamics of soil salinity and sodicity on a global scale using machine learning algorithms. We provided detail information regarding the trends in the total area of soil salinity and sodicity in each country around the world (with the resolution of 1 km^2). For example, the highest values of soil sodicity since 1980 were estimated for Iran (~3,499 km2 yr-1) followed by Saudi Arabia (~2,256 km2 yr-1) and Argentina (~2,012 km2 yr-1). We hope this analysis can support decision and policy-making under current and future climate scenarios regarding sustainable land and ecosystem management. For more details, please check out our paper:
Hassani, A., Azapagic, A., Shokri, N. (2020). Predicting Long-term Dynamics of Soil Salinity and Sodicity on a Global Scale, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2013771117
https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2020/12/09/2013771117
