Applications of GIS and Remote Sensing in Soil Environment Monitoring

Monitoring plays an essential role in the efficient and sustainable management of the environment. Accurate and rapid procedures and data enable the activation and implementation of public policies and initiatives with which to address emergencies and medium-term environmental depletion processes. Among these, soil consumption is one of the most important issues. Soil sealing threatens the protection of the environment and the security of food production [1,2] in a world where only 10–12% of natural soils are still available for agriculture [3]. Another important threat to the soil as a resource is the increase in the erosion process. Several studies expect soil erosion to increase in the 21st century due to global climate change and land use [4,5]. At this point, measures to mitigate the effects of soil erosion are currently on the agenda of international institutions such as the Food and Agriculture Organization [6] and the European Union [7]. On the other hand, the availability of remote sensing data with greater temporal and spatial resolution has increased recently [8]. This wealth of data, integrated with field observations, enables increasingly efficient monitoring processes. Therefore, it is essential to implement and perfect more accurate and efficient methods and models