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Laboratory and Field Protocol for Estimating Sheet Erosion Rates from Dendrogeomorphology
Published on: January 7, 2019
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The influence in rainfall erosivity calculation by using different temporal resolution in Mediterranean area
Marco Piccarreta1, Maurizio Lazzari2, Mario Bentivenga3
1Ministro dell'Istruzione e del Merito, Rome, Italy.
The Science of the Total Environment
|September 28, 2023
Summary
Accurate rainfall erosivity (EI30) calculation requires high-time-resolution data. Using intervals over 30 minutes significantly underestimates erosivity, especially peak rainfall intensity (I30). Optimal estimation needs data with time intervals less than 10 minutes.
Area of Science:
- Hydrology
- Soil Science
- Environmental Science
Background:
- Rainfall erosivity (EI30) is a key factor in soil erosion, directly influenced by storm intensity.
- Calculating EI30 is sensitive to the temporal resolution of rainfall data, with longer intervals causing underestimation.
- Existing methods often use data aggregated at fixed time intervals (ΔΤ), potentially leading to inaccurate erosion assessments.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the differences and correlations in EI30 calculations using various temporal resolutions (ΔΤ).
- To quantify the underestimation of rainfall erosivity parameters (I30, KE, EI30) at different ΔΤ.
- To determine the optimal time interval for rainfall data to accurately estimate EI30.
Main Methods:
- Collected one-minute rainfall data from 6 stations in Basilicata, Italy (2006-2022).
- Computed reference EI30, maximum 30-min rainfall intensity (I30), and storm kinetic energy (KE) using 1-minute data.
- Aggregated data to 5-, 10-, 15-, 30-, and 60-minute intervals to evaluate underestimation effects.
Main Results:
- Using ΔΤ ≤ 15 min, kinetic energy (KE) was the primary source of underestimation.
- For ΔΤ > 30 min, maximum 30-min rainfall intensity (I30) predominantly caused EI30 underestimation.
- Coarse temporal resolutions (>30 min) led to >5% loss of erosive events and >30% underestimation of EI30.
Conclusions:
- High temporal resolution (≤10 min) is essential for accurate rainfall erosivity estimation.
- Underestimation is driven by KE at finer resolutions and I30 at coarser resolutions.
- Current practices using longer time intervals significantly compromise the accuracy of soil erosion risk assessments.
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