New Insights into the Geography and Modelling of Wind Erosion in the European Agricultural Land. Application of a Spatially Explicit Indicator of Land Susceptibility to Wind Erosion

Pasquale Borrelli, Panos Panagos and Luca Montanarella
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Pasquale Borrelli: European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Institute for Environment and Sustainability, Via E. Fermi 2749, Ispra (VA) I-21027, Italy
Panos Panagos: European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Institute for Environment and Sustainability, Via E. Fermi 2749, Ispra (VA) I-21027, Italy
Luca Montanarella: European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Institute for Environment and Sustainability, Via E. Fermi 2749, Ispra (VA) I-21027, Italy

Sustainability, 2015, vol. 7, issue 7, 1-14

Abstract: The current state of the art in erosion research does not provide answers about the “ where ” and “ when ” of wind erosion in European agricultural lands. Questions about the implications for the agricultural productivity remain unanswered. Tackling this research gap, the study provides a more comprehensive understanding of the spatial patterns of land susceptibility to wind erosion in European agricultural lands. The Index of Land Susceptibility to Wind Erosion (ILSWE) was applied in a GIS environment. A harmonized input dataset ranked following a fuzzy logic technique was employed. Within the 36 European countries under investigation, moderate (17.3 million ha) and high levels (8.8 million ha) of land susceptibility to wind erosion were predicted. This corresponds to 8.0% and 4.1% of total agricultural land, respectively.

Keywords: soil degradation; soil protection; land susceptibility; environmental indicators; policy making (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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