An approach to mapping soil erosion by water with application to Albania (original) (raw)
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Monthly Time-Step Erosion Risk Monitoring of Ishmi-Erzeni Watershed, Albania, Using the G2 Model
In this study, soil erosion was mapped in Ishmi-Erzeni watershed,Albania, using the G2 model. The G2 model has been proposed as an agri-environmental service by the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) initiative (now Copernicus programme). Based on the principles of the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE), G2 provides maps of actual soil loss at a monthly time-step. The main innovations of the model with regard to previous USLE family models are as follows: the introduction of a ‘storm factor’, which differentiates rainfall erosivity (R factor) per month when detailed rain intensity records are not available; the use of standardised biophysical parameters derived from satelliteimagetimeseriesincombinationwithlanduseinformation for calculating the vegetation retention factor (denoted here as V factor, corresponding to C factor of USLE); and the use of satellite imagery for calculating a new factor,namely the slope intercept factor (denoted as I factor), which expresses landscape feature alterations, thus functioning as corrective to the topographic influence factor (denoted here as T factor, the slope length and steepness (LS) factor of USLE). The model was originally implemented in the cross-border StrymonasriverbasinandontheislandofCreteafterrevision; inbothcases withencouragingresults.TheG2model follows a data-driven methodology, while providing alternatives for all factor estimations with moderate data requirements. For the model application in the Ishmi-Erzeni watershed (covering 2200 km2), rainfall data were collected from ten weather stations, and soil properties were measured from sampling at 47 locations. Vegetation layers were downloaded from the GMES portal, while land use information was extracted from a Landsat-7 TM image. Finally, terrain properties were calculated from a 250-m digital elevation model (DEM) of the area. The G2 model showed Ishmi-Erzeni to have moderate soil erosion, with a mean annual soil loss estimated to be 6.5 t/ ha; however, 18 % of the area is facing an annual risk of soil removal more than 10 t/ha, which is considered to be a sustainable threshold for Albania.Wintermonthsappeartobethe most risky, with all months contributing substantially to the annual erosion rate (i.e. between 4 and 12 % each). Areas of coniferous and mixed forests, together with mountainous agricultural land, appear to be the most risky land uses. In conclusion, the G2 model proved to be useful and efficient for predicting erosion at monthly time-steps for all land uses in the Ishmi-Erzeni watershed. Future research will focus on an Albania-wide erosion mapping task, using the G2 model.
Spatial modelling of soil erosion potential in a mountainous watershed of South-eastern Serbia
Environmental Earth Sciences, 2012
ABSTRACT This work aims at the assessment of soil erosion rate and its spatial distribution in hilly mountainous Nisava River Basin (South-eastern Serbia) with a surface area of approximately 2,848 km2. The study was conducted using Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) model due to its modest data demand and easy comprehensible structure. The erosion factors of USLE were collected and processed through a GIS-based approach. Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM+) image and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) were used for the determination of crop management factor. The average annual soil loss was estimated at 27.0 t ha−1 year−1 classifying Nisava River Basin under very high erosion rate category. About 39.0 % of the watershed area was characterized by slight erosion rate (<5 t ha−1 year−1), 7.7 % of the area was found to be under moderate erosion rate (5–10 t ha−1), 13.8 % of the area is under high erosion rate (10–20 t ha−1), while around 17.5 % of the area was under very high erosion rate (20–40 t ha−1 year−1). Severe erosion rate (40–80 t ha−1 year−1) was observed at 14.2 % of the study area, whereas very severe erosion rate (>80 t ha−1 year−1) described about 7.8 % of the watershed. The results of this work are in agreement with the soil erosion map of Serbia, the sediment yield measurements in the basin and with other, more detailed, studies in the watershed. Therefore, the presented methodology could be applied as a framework for the evaluation of erosion factors on soil resources in South-eastern Serbia when limited data are available. The outputs of these studies can be used for the identification of vulnerable areas on a cell basis and for planning of conservation practices.
2 3 Spatial modelling of soil erosion potential in a mountainous watershed of South- eastern Serbia
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2019
As a sediment production mechanism, soil erosion is the main environmental threat to the Bovilla watershed, including the decline of water quality of the Bovilla reservoir that provides drinking water to Tirana city (the capital of Albania). Therefore, an experiment with 25 erosion plots for soil erosion monitoring has been set up since June 2017. The aim was to determine the soil loss on plot and watershed scale in Bovilla watershed (Tirana region) for implementation of soil and water protection measures or payments for ecosystem services (PES) programs. The results of erosion monitoring for the period June 2017 May 2018 showed that the highest values of surface runoff were noted in bare land of 38829.91 liters on slope of 74% and the lowest values in forest land of 12840.6 liters on slope of 64% while the highest values of soil loss were found in bare land of 595.15 t/ha on slope of 62% and lowest values in forest land of 18.99 t/ha on slope of 64%. These values are much higher th...
Application of the Erosion Potential Method in Vithkuqi Watersheds (Southeastern Albania)
Journal of Ecological Engineering, 2022
Soil erosion is one of the most important phenomena affecting land composition and settlement. Among all natural causes of soil erosion such as rainfall intensity, temperature and wind, the human activity; massive deforestation and intensive agriculture, including the latest climate changes are considered as very important factors, especially nowadays. Thus, calculating the soil erosion coefficient appears very important in order to prevent the phenomena. Many methods are used to calculate such coefficient but in the presented research, the Erosion Potential Method was chosen. In this study, eight watersheds in southeastern Albania were evaluated. Results show that erosion is present in all considered watersheds. In one case (Panariti watershed) the erosion coefficient was very high; excessive, while in others it varies from heavy to very slight erosion. In conclusion, it can be stated that the Erosion Potential Method can be applied in the Albanian contest, same as in other neighbor countries. The results from Panariti, Roshani and Gianci should be further investigated due to the high quantity of soil eroded.
ISPRS - International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, 2015
The Mediterranean region is particularly prone to erosion. This is because it is subject to long dry periods followed by heavy bursts of erosive rainfall, falling on steep slopes with fragile soils, resulting in considerable amounts of erosion. In parts of the Mediterranean region, erosion has reached a stage of irreversibility and in some places erosion has practically ceased because there is no more soil left. With a very slow rate of soil formation, any soil loss of more than 1 t ha −1 yr −1 can be considered as irreversible within a time span of 50-100 years. The objectives of this study were i) to estimate the temporal and spatial distribution of soil erosion under climate change scenarios in study area ii) to assess the hydrological runoff processes. In this study, climate data, land use, topographic and physiographic properties were assembled for Egribuk Subcatchment at Seyhan River Basin in Turkey and used in a process-based Geographical Information System (GIS) to determine the hydrological sediment potential and quantify reservoir sedimentation. The estimated amount of sediment transported downstream is potentially large based on hydrological runoff processes using the Pan-European Soil Erosion Risk Assessment (PESERA) model. The detailed model inputs included 128 variables derived mainly from, soil, climate, land use/cover, topography data sets. The outcomes of this research were spatial and temporal distribution of erosion amount in t ha −1 yr −1 or month −1 .
The Soil Erosion Risk Map of the Sicilian Region (1: 250,000 Scale)
Assessing the risk areas of soil erosion by water at the regional level is relevant for current and future land planning of environmental actions to combat land degradation. The gravity of the risk is not only depending on the rate of soil erosion by water, but also on other factors, primarily soil depth and rock weatherability. The map of the soil erosion risk in the Sicilian region, expressed in terms of years to a complete loss of the fertile soil cover, is here presented as a methodological model. The degree of risk was not only estimated in function of the rate of soil erosion by water, but also of the depth of the fertile part of the profile, and of the weatherability degree of the underlying bedrock.
Towards the Reproducibility in Soil Erosion Modeling: a New Pan-European Soil Erosion Map
Soil erosion by water is a widespread phenomenon throughout Europe and has the potentiality, with his on-site and off-site effects, to affect water quality, food security and floods. Despite the implementation of numerous and different models to estimate soil erosion by water in Europe, there is still a lack of harmonization of assessment methodologies. Very often, different approaches give soil erosion rates significantly different and even when the same model is applied to the same region the results may be different. This can be due to the way the model is implemented (i.e. with the selection of different algorithms when available) and/or to the use of datasets having different resolution or accuracy. Scientific computation is emerging as one of the central topic of the scientific method, to overcome these problems there is thus the necessity to develop reproducible computational method where codes and data are available. The present study is an illustration of such an approach. Using only public available datasets, we applied the Revised Universal Soil loss Equation (RUSLE) to locate the most sensitive areas to soil erosion in Europe. A significant effort was made to select the better simplified equations to be used when a strict application of the RUSLE model is not possible. In particular for the computation of the Rainfall Erosivity factor (R) the reproducible research paradigm was applied. The calculation of the R factor was implemented using public datasets and the GNU R language and an easily reproducible validation procedure based on measured precipitation time series was applied using Matlab language. Designing the computational modeling architecture with the aim to ease as much as possible the future reuse of the model in analyzing climate change scenarios is also a challenging goal of the research.