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ARS Home » Plains Area » Lubbock, Texas » Cropping Systems Research Laboratory » Wind Erosion and Water Conservation Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #112750
Title: SCALING UP FROM FIELD TO REGION FOR WIND EROSION PREDICTION ON CROPLAND USING GIS

Author
item Zobeck, Teddy
item PARKER, NICK - USGS
item HASKELL, SHERI - USGS
item GUODING, KANG - CHINESE ACAD OF SCI

Submitted to: National Gap Analysis Program Biological Informatics Annual Meeting
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/15/2000
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Factors that affect wind erosion such as surface vegetative & soil surface roughness change spatially & temporally at the field scale. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the feasibility of using a field-scale wind erosion model with a geographic information system (GIS) to scale up to regional levels & to quantify the differences in wind erosion estimates produced at different scales. We used GIS in combination with a wind erosion model (RWEQ) to estimate wind erosion for two 50 km-sq areas. The GIS database layers included land use, soils, & other features such as roads. The major land use was agricultural fields. The total estimated wind erosion potential for Terry Co was about four times that estimated for adjacent Lubbock Co. The difference in potential erosion among the counties was attributed to regional differences in surface soil texture. In a comparison of different soil map scales in Terry Co, the generalized soil map had over 20% more of the land area & over 15% greater erosion potentia in loamy sand soils than did the detailed soil map. As a result, the wind erosion potential determined using the generalized soil map was about 26% greater than the erosion potential estimated by using the detailed soil map in Terry Co. The natural variation in soils across a region & within the same region, but discernable at different scales of mapping make it evident that care must be taken when combining units as we scale up from fields to regions.