Agricultural water scarcity assessment in northern Italy by means of the Transpiration Deficit Index (TDI)

The Mediterranean is the most vulnerable European region to both short-term and long-term water imbalance. Since irrigated agriculture accounts for a considerable share of water abstractions, the development and adoption of spatially distributed indicators able to recognize and predict water shortage and water scarcity situations are crucial to manage their effects. This work shows the suitability of the newly developed Transpiration Deficit Index (TDI) to monitor water scarcity in a pilot study area of the Padana Plain (northern Italy) characterized by limited water availability by surface diversions. Preliminary results of its validation through a comparison with a Landsat-derived time-series of proxy for crop yield is also presented along with the potentials of the proposed approach.