Sensitivity Analysis on GIS Procedures for the Estimate of Soil Erosion Risk

Giuseppe Mendicino

Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, 1999, vol. 20, issue 2, 253 pages

Abstract: Land degradation by water erosion is one of the majorissues in the field of environmental planning. Soilerosion and sediment transport are spatiallydistributed processes, and their evaluation can beeasily realised by means of the use of GeographicInformation Systems. The greater availability ofdigital and geo-lithological data managed and storedinside GIS has implied the development of techniquesand procedures aimed at the definition of the spatialprediction of erosion and deposition rates across acatchment. In this paper using terrain data measuredon an experimental basin in southern Italy, asensitivity analysis on different GIS-basedmethodologies for the estimate of a Length-Slope factorhas been developed with the aim of determining whichof these is more reliable for spatial erosion riskassessment. Specifically, by using the unit stream powertheory, different estimates are shown, depending on thescheme adopted to represent the hydrological andtopographic three-dimensional effects inside theLength-Slope factor. The performances of theprocedures analysed have been evaluated through theinformation content of the corresponding spatialdistributions, estimated as an entropy measure. Theresults obtained have shown that among the approachesutilised to describe the routing of the surface runoffalong the hillslope profiles, the two-dimensionalscheme appeared to be more realistic both on divergingand converging surfaces. Such a scheme, during thecomputational phases also aimed at distinguishing the areasof the basin experiencing net erosion from those areasexperiencing net deposition, resulted, being inaccordance with on-site investigations. Copyright Kluwer Academic Publishers 1999

Keywords: erosion; DTM; revised USLE equation; cumulative upslope area methods; entropy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1999
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DOI: 10.1023/A:1008120231103

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