From April 20 to 24, 2023, Comrade Jiang Liping, leader of the “Comprehensive Research Team for Monitoring Soil Salinization in the Yellow River Delta,” together with Teacher Yu Xinyang from the Department of Land Resources and Information Technology at Shandong Agricultural University, led a team of five technical personnel to Kenli District and Hekou District of Dongying City to conduct field validation work on soil salinization in cultivated land.
The “Comprehensive Research Team on Soil Salinization Monitoring in the Yellow River Delta” is one of the institute‑level science and technology innovation teams established by our institute in 2022. The team has instituted a university–enterprise joint operation mechanism with the College of Resources and Environment at Shandong Agricultural University. Led by our institute, the team collaborates with the university to provide technical guidance and access to research platforms, thereby fostering an innovative talent‑development model that integrates knowledge transfer, collaborative problem‑solving, hands‑on innovation, and holistic skill enhancement. Focusing on key physicochemical indicators—such as salinity, moisture content, and organic matter—in the currently salinized soils of the Yellow River Delta, the team investigates inversion mechanisms, builds a spatial database of these critical parameters, and achieves efficient diagnostics of soil salinization. This work lays both theoretical and data foundations for soil surveys in the Yellow River Delta and provides technical support for the sustainable utilization of saline‑alkali lands and the advancement of ecological civilization.
This field validation effort was conducted on the basis of a comprehensive analysis of collected data and the preliminary development of an indicator‑based spatial model. Following a preliminary assessment of the physicochemical properties of soil samples, three representative saline‑alkali farmland sites were identified. On the premise of defining flight paths and survey areas within these typical saline‑alkali zones, a DJI M600 PRO drone equipped with a Sequoria multispectral sensor was used to acquire multispectral imagery. Subsequent model inversion enabled precise monitoring of the degree and spatial distribution of salinization in these target areas.
Following the acquisition of multispectral imagery from the drone, the team’s technical staff conducted soil sampling on the experimental plot. They used a mobile global positioning system to record the coordinates of each sampling site and employed a five-point sampling method around each site to collect surface soil (0–20 cm), facilitating laboratory analysis of key physicochemical parameters such as soil salinity, moisture content, and organic matter.
During this field validation campaign, drone-based monitoring of soil salinization and the collection of soil samples yielded a more comprehensive and in-depth understanding of soil salinization in the Yellow River Delta’s cultivated land, thereby fully demonstrating the feasibility and efficiency of using multispectral drone imagery to monitor soil salinization in agricultural areas.
Next, the members of the science and technology innovation team will conduct further analysis and research on the acquired imagery. By integrating laboratory measurements of soil samples, they will investigate the universal mechanisms underlying remote-sensing monitoring of soil salinization, thereby providing a data foundation for subsequent studies aimed at inverting these mechanisms and establishing a spatial database of key physicochemical indicators of soil salinization.
Pioneering scientific and technological innovation, we strive to scale new heights and achieve world‑class excellence. This field validation effort marks a solid step forward in our institute’s efforts to build institution‑level science and technology innovation teams and foster university‑industry collaboration. Members of the innovation team will devote themselves wholeheartedly, tackle challenges head‑on, and work together in close unity to help our institute fully accomplish its annual goals and tasks.
