A universal meteorological method to identify potential risk of wind erosion on heavy-textured soils

Abstract

The climate of Central Europe, mainly winter seasons with no snow cover at lower altitudes and a spring drought as well, might cause erosion events on heavy-textured soils. The aim of this paper is to define a universal method to identify the potential risk of wind erosion on heavy-textured soils. The categorization of potential wind erosion risk due to meteorological conditions is based on: (i) an evaluation of the number of freeze-thaw episodes forming bare soil surfaces during the cold period of year; and (ii), an evaluation of the number of days with wet soil surfaces during the cold period of year. In the period 2001–2012 (from November to March), episodes with temperature changes from positive to negative and vice versa (thaw-freeze and freeze-thaw cycles) and the effects of wet soil surfaces in connection with aggregate disintegration, are identified. The data are spatially interpolated by GIS tools for areas in the Czech Republic with heavy-textured soils. Blending critical categories is used to locate potential risks. The level of risk is divided into six classes. Those areas identified as potentially most vulnerable are the same localities where the highest number of erosive episodes on heavy-textured soils was documented.

Keywords

• freeze-thaw cycle
• soil moisture
• aggregate stability
• clay soil
• meteorological conditions
• gis tools