Irrigation Dam Potential Command Areas and Cropland Change, 2000+

Piyush Mehta's dataset assesses the expansion of irrigated agriculture around new irrigation dams. It combines georeferenced data on 422 dams built since 2000 across 14 countries with elevation and satellite-derived cropland data. The analysis estimates changes in cropland and likely irrigated area within potential command areas, finding an increase from 39% to 46% cropland coverage and a 36% to 72% increase in likely irrigated share.

Use Cases

• Assessing the utilization of irrigation dam potential command areas based on satellite-derived cropland data.
• Modeling gravity-fed and pump-extended irrigation scenarios using elevation data.
• Evaluating post-dam establishment changes in agricultural land use based on remote sensing.
• Identifying under-utilized irrigation command areas to inform infrastructure planning.

Strengths

• Analysis is based on a global sample of 422 irrigation dams completed since 2000.
• Integrates multiple data sources: georeferenced dam locations, elevation data, and remotely sensed global cropland data.
• Provides specific quantitative findings, such as cropland coverage increasing from 39% to 46% of potential command areas.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• The dataset size is listed as 0.0 B, indicating a very limited scope or potential metadata issue.

Provenance

Source

figshare, author Piyush Mehta.

Collection Method

Combines georeferenced irrigation dam data with elevation and remotely sensed global cropland data.

Time Range

Dams completed since 2000, with post-establishment cropland change analysis.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-22 06:56:04; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Covers 14 countries globally.