Published February 20, 2026 | Version 1.2.0
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PALMA Oasis Monitoring Dataset: 31 Oasis Systems, 28 Years (1998–2026) — Phyto-Aquifer Long-Wave Microclimate Analysis

Authors/Creators

  • 1. ROR icon Ronin Institute for Independent Scholarship 2.0
  • 2. Rite of Renaissance
  • 3. Desert Ecology Research Center, Ouargla
  • 4. Arabian Peninsula Environmental Sciences Institute
  • 5. MENA Sustainable Agriculture Center

Description

This dataset supports the PALMA (Phyto-Aquifer Long-Wave Microclimate Analysis) framework — a comprehensive physics-based system for real-time monitoring of desert oasis ecosystem resilience across seven integrated bio-ecological parameters.

 

DATASET CONTENTS

 

The archive contains 28 years (1998–2026) of observational data from 31 oasis systems across four desert biomes (Sahara, Arabian Peninsula, Atacama, Central Asian steppe), organized across three monitoring tiers:

 

- Tier 1 (5 sites): Full instrumentation — piezometer networks, soil EC sensor arrays, 12-level thermocouple profiles, eddy covariance stations, biannual UAV campaigns

- Tier 2 (8 sites): Intermediate instrumentation with weekly field monitoring

- Tier 3 (18 sites): Satellite-primary monitoring with quarterly field validation

 

TOTAL OBSERVATIONAL RECORDS

- 1,247 piezometer records (groundwater level, 15-min intervals, three depths)

- 8,943 soil electrical conductivity measurements (four depths: 15, 30, 60, 90 cm)

- 14,320 thermal sensor records (12-level thermocouple vertical profiles)

- 2,184 satellite image scenes (Sentinel-2, Landsat 8/9, MODIS — processed to PALMA spectral indices)

- 312 standardized biodiversity surveys (plants, birds, soil invertebrates, mammals)

- 89 UAV flight missions (RGB+NDVI orthomosaics, FLIR thermal maps)

- 31 LiDAR point cloud acquisitions (canopy height models)

- 1,847 field ground-truth survey points

 

SEVEN PALMA PARAMETERS

1. ARVC — Aquifer Recharge Velocity Coefficient (piezometer networks, three depths)

2. PTSI — Phyto-Thermal Shielding Index (UAV FLIR thermal + thermocouple arrays)

3. SSSP — Soil Salinity Stress Parameter (Decagon 5TE EC sensors, EC_crit = 8.4 dS/m)

4. CMBF — Canopy Microclimate Buffering Factor (meteorological stations, VPD)

5. SVRI — Spectral Vegetation Resilience Index (Sentinel-2 multi-band composite)

6. WEPR — Water-Energy Partition Ratio (eddy covariance + isotopic water balance)

7. BST — Biodiversity Stability Threshold (Shannon diversity, annual surveys)

 

KEY RESULTS

- OHI prediction accuracy: 93.1% (RMSE = 9.8%)

- Ecosystem stress detection rate: 97.2% | False alert rate: 2.8%

- Mean intervention lead time: 52 days before critical threshold crossings

- Field-validated aquifer retention exponent: α = 0.68 ± 0.05

- Mean phyto-thermal shielding: ΔT = 11.4°C (range 8.3–14.7°C)

- SSSP–SVRI anti-correlation: ρ = −0.887 (p < 0.001)

- ARVC–productivity correlation: r = +0.913

 

STUDY SITES INCLUDE

Draa Valley (Morocco), Tafilalet (Morocco), Al-Ahsa (Saudi Arabia — UNESCO World Heritage), Dunhuang Karez system (China), Al-Fayum (Egypt), Ghardaïa (Algeria), Fergana Valley (Uzbekistan), San Pedro de Atacama (Chile), and 23 additional sites.

 

ASSOCIATED MANUSCRIPT

Submitted to: Arid Land Research and Management (Taylor & Francis), March 2026

DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18706409

OSF Preregistration: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/DXRG6

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Additional details

Is described by
Software: 10.5281/zenodo.18706409 (DOI)
Is documented by
Software: 10.17605/OSF.IO/DXRG6 (DOI)
Is supplement to
Software: https://gitlab.com/gitdeeper4/palma (URL)
Software: https://github.com/gitdeeper4/palma (URL)
Software: https://codeberg.org/gitdeeper4/palma (URL)
Software: https://bitbucket.org/gitdeeper7/palma (URL)
Software: https://pypi.org/project/palma-oasis/ (URL)

Software

Repository URL
https://gitlab.com/gitdeeper4/palma
Programming language
Python
Development Status
Active

References

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  • Beaumont, P. (1971). Qanat systems in Iran. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 16(1), 39–50.
  • van Genuchten, M.Th. (1980). Predicting hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated soils. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 44(5), 892–898.
  • Rhoades, J.D. et al. (1992). The Use of Saline Waters for Crop Production. FAO Irrigation Paper 48.
  • Tucker, C.J. et al. (2005). An extended AVHRR 8 km NDVI dataset. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 26(20), 4485–4498.
  • UNEP-GOAS. (2019). Global Oasis Assessment: Status and Trends 1960–2019. Nairobi: UNEP.
  • Borgogno-Mondino, E. et al. (2020). Date palm decline monitoring using Sentinel-2. Remote Sensing, 12(12).
  • Hssaisoune, M. et al. (2020). Moroccan Groundwater Resources and Global Climate Changes. Geosciences, 10(1), 81.
  • Zittis, G. et al. (2021). Climate change and weather extremes in MENA. Reviews of Geophysics, 60(3).
  • FAO. (2022). Date Palm Commodity Statistical Yearbook. Rome: FAO.
  • Baladi, S. et al. (2026). PALMA: Oasis Systems as Living Techno-Ecological Machines. Arid Land Research and Management. DOI: 10.14293/PALMA.2026.001