Comparing RUSLE LS Calculation Methods Across Varying DEM Resolutions

Abstract

Soil erosion reduces land productivity and causes environmental degradation. Soil erosion models, such as the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE), are used to estimate the severity and distribution of erosion. The topographic factor (LS), which combines slope length and angle, is an important part of RUSLE. Two methods for calculating L, the grid cumulation (GC) and the contributing area (CA) methods, and two methods for calculating S, the neighborhood (NBR) and maximum downhill slope (MDS) methods, were compared using digital elevation models (DEMs) with resolutions of 1, 5, 10, and 30 m.

Keywords

• soil erosion
• rusle
• slope
• dem
• resolution