The publication of this Handbook was supported by the Russian Federation

Fig. 2.1. A general scheme of remote sensing monitoring of salinization of irrigated soils [15]
The organization of  remote sensing monitoring of  soil salinization can be divided into three stages:
1.  The inventorization of  salt-affected soils based on the remote sensing data and the analysis of  
information on the actual state of  salt-affected soils at the time of  research.
2.  The study of  seasonal and long-term dynamics of  soil salinization and the estimation of  
salinization-desalinization rates.
3.  The determination of  causes of  soil salinization dynamics, the prognosis of  development 
of  salinization-desalinization processes and the development of  recommendations for 
management of  those processes.
Our studies have shown that the first of  the aforementioned stages has already been achieved and 
its practical applications can be seen on specific sites of  irrigation systems in Central Asia. The 
principles of  the second stage have been set out and it can be realized in the near future with the 
development of  appropriate tools. The third stage is the most complicated and requires the further 
involvement of  specialists on soil amelioration, hydrogeology, mathematics and other disciplines to 
tackle existing problems.
It is assumed that all information that can be used in the future is being entered and saved into the 
database, which will be available for later use in the evaluation, planning and decision making in 
the course of  work progress. The main approaches to the site-specific organization of  monitoring 
systems  on  salt-affected  soils  at  different  work  stages  (establishment  of   soil  monitoring  system, 
choosing optimal timings for remote sensing, organizing ground surveys, etc.) are published in 
detail [15].
Initial data collection, 
desk studies
Field and laboratory 
studies
 Initial map of soil 
salinization
Estimation of soil 
water-saltbalance
Forecast of changes
in soil salinity