The Effect of Windbreak Parameters on the Wind Erosion Risk Assessment in Agricultural Landscape

Abstract

The increasing risk of wind erosion in the context of climate change represents a highly pressing issue. This increase is a result of the growing occurrence of droughts and elevated temperatures in intensively farmed areas. Effective protection against the wind erosion can be provided by windbreaks, especially during the period when the soil is not protected by the vegetation cover of crops. In this report, we wanted to compare the methods defining the windbreak protection zones. The optical porosity and the windbreak height were the basic parameters for defining the protection area. The various methods differ among themselves by using or not using the windbreak height parameter. The optical porosity of the windbreaks was determined based on photographic documentation. For the comparison, we selected the cadastral area of Micmanice due to the wide network of windbreaks in this locality. We set up a database of windbreak height and optical porosity for each windbreak. Our report thus presents application of the new knowledge to updating the methods and procedures for assessing the vulnerability of the area by wind erosion. Use of the method involving parameters of the optical porosity and windbreak height resulted in significant reduction of the windbreak protection zone compared to the method omitting the windbreak height.

Keywords

• climate change
• agricultural land
• protection zones