Year of publication
1996
Excerpt
A Qualitative assessment of water erosion risk using the 1:5 M Soter Database for Northern Argentina, South-East Brazil and Uruguay.
A simple pressure-state-response model for assessing the risk of water erosion at the continental scale is presented in which soil erodibility, slope, rainfall erosivity and land use -a coarse indicator of human-induced pressure on the land- arc the main controlling factors. The qualitative model uses input data from the I :5 M scale Soil and Terrain Database (SOTER) and the revised agro-ecological zones map of F AO/IIASA. The methodology and software was developed and tested for a pilot area bounded by latitude 49° W to 61° W and 28° S to 35° S, covering parts of Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay (about 656x 10^3) km2) . This preliminary desk study shows the potential of the l : 5 M SOTER database for identifying areas at risk from water erosion. However, there was little possibility to evaluate the outcome of the model against 'ground-truth' nor to quantify effects of food production on water erosion, and vice versa, for which more detailed follow-up studies are needed.
A simple pressure-state-response model for assessing the risk of water erosion at the continental scale is presented in which soil erodibility, slope, rainfall erosivity and land use -a coarse indicator of human-induced pressure on the land- arc the main controlling factors. The qualitative model uses input data from the I :5 M scale Soil and Terrain Database (SOTER) and the revised agro-ecological zones map of F AO/IIASA. The methodology and software was developed and tested for a pilot area bounded by latitude 49° W to 61° W and 28° S to 35° S, covering parts of Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay (about 656x 10^3) km2) . This preliminary desk study shows the potential of the l : 5 M SOTER database for identifying areas at risk from water erosion. However, there was little possibility to evaluate the outcome of the model against 'ground-truth' nor to quantify effects of food production on water erosion, and vice versa, for which more detailed follow-up studies are needed.