Using high-resolution radar images to determine vegetation cover for soil erosion assessments

verfasst von

Damian Bargiel, S. Herrmann, J. Jadczyszyn

Abstract

Healthy soils are crucial for human well-being. Because soils are threatened worldwide, politicians recognize the need for soil protection. For example, the European Commission has launched the Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection, which requests the European member states to identify high risk areas for soil degradation. Most states use the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) to assess soil erosion risk at the national scale. The USLE includes different factors, one of them is the vegetation cover and management factor (C factor). Modern satellite-based radar sensors now provide highly accurate vegetation cover data, enabling opportunities to improve the accuracy of the C factor. The presented study proves the suitability for C factor determination based on a multi-temporal classification of high-resolution radar images. Further USLE factors were derived from existing data sources (meteorological data, soil maps, digital elevation model) to conduct an USLE-based soil erosion assessment. The resulting map illustrates a qualitative assessment for soil erosion risk within a plot of about 7*12km in an agricultural region in Poland that is very susceptible to soil erosion processes. A high erosion risk of more than 10 tonnes per ha and year was assessed to occur on 13.6% (646ha) of the agricultural areas within the investigated plot. Further 7.8% (372ha) of agricultural land is threaten by a medium risk of 5-10 tonnes per ha and year. Such a spatial information about areas of high or medium soil erosion risk are crucial for the development of strategies for the protection of soils.

Organisationseinheit(en)

Institut für Umweltplanung

Externe Organisation(en)

Institute of Soil Science and Plant Cultivation (IUNG)

Typ

Artikel

Journal

Journal of Environmental Management

Band

124

Seiten

82-90

Anzahl der Seiten

9

ISSN

0301-4797

Publikationsdatum

30.07.2013

Publikationsstatus

Veröffentlicht

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Environmental engineering, Abfallwirtschaft und -entsorgung, Management, Monitoring, Politik und Recht

Ziele für nachhaltige Entwicklung

SDG 3 – Gute Gesundheit und Wohlergehen, SDG 15 – Lebensraum Land

Elektronische Version(en)

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2013.03.049 (Zugang: Geschlossen)