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Project

Dynamic modelling of soil erosion and sediment delivery in Europe

Soil erosion and sediment export from agricultural lands has profound on and off-site consequences that threaten both the natural environment and effective sustainable resource management in Europe. Currently, modelled approaches using the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) to predict the spatial distribution of soil erosion produce annual average values of soil erosion with minor consideration of sub-annual variation within its asynchronously dynamic parameters; namely: rainfall droplet energy, soil erodibility and vegetation cover (R, K and C). Variation in these parameters likely means that soil erosion throughout the year is highly variable down to the event (individual storm) timescale, therefore explicitly accounting for this variation at a refined temporal resolution could provide more accurate predictions of soil loss alongside better information for policy management. Combining new remote-sensing methods to measure these dynamic parameters with a catchment sediment delivery model (WaTEM/SEDEM) will allow better estimations of on-site soil erosion and off-site sediment supply to rivers, ultimately allowing a better impact assessment of soil erosion both today and in a changing climate.

Date:27 Sep 2019 →  1 Feb 2024
Keywords:Geomorphology, Saptial Analysis, Soil Erosion, Environmental Modelling
Disciplines:Land capability and soil degradation, Geomorphology and landscape evolution, Modelling and simulation, Physical geography and environmental geoscience not elsewhere classified, Natural resource management
Project type:PhD project