soil erosion in europe and overview of g2 model · soil erosion erosion is a natural process, which...
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Soil Erosion in Europe and overview of G2 model
Geoland-2 Training event,
School of Forestry and Natural Environment
Thessaloniki, 29 May 2012
Panos Panagos [email protected]
Sealing Erosion
Organic matter decline
Compaction
Salinisation
Landslides
Contamination Decline in soil biodiversity
Threats to soil as identified in Thematic Strategy for protection of Soils:
Soil Erosion
Erosion is a natural process, which can however be significantly accelerated by human activities (removal of vegetative soil cover, increased field size, Overstocking)
Soil Erosion - Water Risk: estimated at 115 million ha, or one eighth of Europe’s total land area
Wind Erosion: 42 million ha are affected, of which 2% severely affected
The Mediterranean is particularly prone to erosion when heavy rain occurs after long dry periods.
Significant annual costs: € 0.7 – 14.0 billion according to Impact Assessment of the Thematic Strategy (only 13 countries included)
Since there is a difficulty to assess the affected area, erosion risk has been proposed as an indicator of actual erosion, which can be assessed on the basis of predictive models such as PESERA
PESERA predicts: o 3.4% of the area is at erosion risk of more than 10 tonnes (t) ha-1 yr-1
o 18% of the area (54 million ha) are at risk of losing soil above 1 t ha-1yr-1
o 25% of the area (75.5 million ha) is at risk to lose more than 0.5 t of soil ha-1 yr-1
http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/library/themes/erosion/
• Resource Efficiency Roadmap COM(2011 571, 20.9.2011), one of the building blocks of Europe 2020
• Milestone: By 2020, EU policies take into account
• their direct and indirect impact on land use in the
• EU and globally, and the rate of land take is on
• track with an aim to achieve no net land take by
• 2050; soil erosion is reduced and the soil organic
• matter increased, with remedial work on
• contaminated sites well underway.
• http://ec.europa.eu/environment/resource_efficiency/index_en.htm
Policy development
• By 2020, water abstraction stays, as a rule, below 20% of available renewable water resources.
• • Maintain and enhance ecosystems and their services by
• establishing green infrastructure and restoring at least 15% of
• degraded ecosystems by 2020.
• • Annual land take (i.e. the increase of artificial land) does not
• exceed 800 km² per year at the EU level by 2020.
• • The area of land in the EU that is subject to soil erosion of more than 10 tonnes per hectare per year should be reduced by at least 25% by 2020.
• • By 2020 soil organic matter levels do not decrease overall and increase for soils currently with less than 3.5% organic matter (Soil Organic Carbon 2%)
Targets
MODELS
INTEGRATED ASSESSMENTS
SPATIAL DATA
SOIL ACTION
Integrating large spatial datasets
MODELS
Mean rates of soil erosion by water in the EU-27 were estimated to be 2.76 t/ha/yr
EIONET: Data received from Member States
EIONET Data collection: a potential model for reporting the state of soil in Europe?
Soil Erosion (t/ha/year) AND Soil Organic Carbon(%) 0-30cm
Soil Erosion data: 7 countries provided complete datasets (3 countries incomplete); Vast Majority uses USLE or similar…
Erosion by water
(main drivers)
Rain
Runoff
Soil detachment
Rain
Soil movement
Terrain
Vegetation
Erosion agents
• Rain erosivity
• Soil erodibility
• Terrain shape
• Land use
Erosion Modelling
parameters
Christos G. Karydas, Panos Panagos & Ioannis Z. Gitas (2012): A classification of
water erosion models according to their geospatial characteristics, International
Journal of Digital Earth, DOI:10.1080/17538947.2012.671380
Erosion and scale
Christos G. Karydas, Panos Panagos & Ioannis Z. Gitas (2012): A classification of
water erosion models according to their geospatial characteristics, International
Journal of Digital Earth, DOI:10.1080/17538947.2012.671380
Processes
Features
Forms
Erosion models
Christos G. Karydas, Panos Panagos & Ioannis Z. Gitas
(2012): A classification of water erosion models according to
their geospatial characteristics, International Journal of Digital
Earth, DOI:10.1080/17538947.2012.671380
Erosion Models (82)
Why G2?
Geoland-2: is our research project (The Acronym)
A new modified approach based on existing knowledge (USLE)
A model which will work for the requirements of the Project (Regional Scale) but ……
with potentiality to be applied as a pan-European Service depending on data availability
Take into account seasonality : few research has been published on soil erosion seasonality
Compatibility with previous & current studies
Familiarity with existing user/scientific groups
Decision making tool : Easy to apply
G2 model features
Erosion type Sheet – interril
Erosion features Soil loss (actual)
Erosion processes Splash, runoff
Spatial scale Landscape
Temporal scale Month (long term, averaged)
Mathematical basis Empirical (inherited from USLE)
Type of assessment Quantitative (t/ha)
G2 formula
E=(R*V)*(S*T*I) E Actual soil loss (t/ha)
R Rainfall erosivity (modified from USLE by G2)
DYNAMIC FACTORS
V Vegetation retention (developed by G2)
S Soil erodibility (modified from USLE by JRC, 2000-5)
STATIC FACTORS T Topographic influence (USLE modifications, 1996)
I Interception of slope length (developed by G2)
Wischmeier and Smith 1978 E=(R*V)*(S*T*I)
G2 Objectives
Month Step standardised approach
Novel method for estimation of Vegetation retention
Useful for policy makers
Easy to identify the critical Months AND Critical Seasons
Easy to identify the critical Land uses
Easy to identify the HOT SPOTS
Based on homogeneous European Geo-Databases such as European Soil Database (ESDB), Organic Carbon Content (OCTOP), IMAGE 2006, BioPAR, ASTER DEM
Strymonas Study area
Extend: 14,500 Km2
Mean Elevation: 735m
Min Max: 0 – 2,940m
Average slope: 7.18
Land Use/Cover: 59% Forest, natural grassland, Shrublands AND 36% agriculture
Rainfall variability: Min 365mm (kerkini, GR), Max 835mm (Cherni vrah, BG)