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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Pullman, Washington » Northwest Sustainable Agroecosystems Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #324277
Title: Evaluation of two empirical wind erosion models in arid and semi-arid regions of China and the USA

Author
item PI, HUAWEI - Xinjiang Research Institute
item Sharratt, Brenton
item Feng, Gary
item LEI, JIAQIANG - Xinjiang Research Institute

Submitted to: Environmental Modelling & Software
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/24/2017
Publication Date: 2/3/2017
Citation: Pi, H., Sharratt, B.S., Feng, G.G., Lei, J. 2017. Evaluation of two empirical wind erosion models in arid and semi-arid regions of China and the USA. Environmental Modelling & Software. 91:28-46.

Interpretive Summary: Wind erosion models must be validated across multiple climates, land use types, and soils to ensure adequate performance in assessing wind erosion risks of agricultural lands. We found the APEX wind erosion model performed well in simulating soil loss in the Tarim Basin of China while the RWEQ performed well in simulating soil loss in the Columbia Plateau of the Pacific Northwest. In contrast, the APEX model did not adequately simulate erosion in the Columbia Plateau or did the RWEQ adequately simulate erosion in the Tarim Basin. Improving the performance of APEX in the Columbia Plateau and RWEQ in the Tarim Basin will require calibration of model parameters or better parameterization of threshold velocities. Scientists or regulatory agencies can use APEX and RWEQ with limited application, but are encouraged to improve these models for broader application in predicting wind erosion around the world.

Technical Abstract: The Tarim Basin in China and Columbia Plateau in the USA are important agricultural regions as well as source regions of windblown dust that impact air quality in Asia and North America. Wind erosion models are important tools for assessing the potential erodibility of soils and best management practices to control wind erosion. There is a need to identify models that accurately predict wind erosion of agricultural and native ecosystems in these regions. The Agricultural Policy/Environmental eXtender (APEX) wind erosion model and the Revised Wind Erosion Equation (RWEQ) were tested using erosion and environmental data collected from cotton and red date cropping systems and a desert-oasis ecotone in the northern Tarim Basin and winter wheat–summer fallow (WW-SF) cropping system in the Columbia Plateau. Meta-analysis of standard statistical tests was used to assess model performance. The APEX model adequately simulated soil loss in the cotton field and desert-oasis ecotone in the Tarim Basin while the RWEQ adequately simulated soil loss in the WW-SF rotation in the Columbia Plateau. The APEX model inadequately simulated soil discharge and loss in the red date orchard and WW-SF rotation due to respectively overestimating the impact of vegetation and underestimating threshold friction velocity. Underestimation of maximum mass transport resulted in inadequate simulation of soil discharge and loss by RWEQ in the red date orchard and desert-oasis ecotone. The inadequate simulation of soil loss by RWEQ in the cotton field was due to the poor prediction of critical field lengths because the RWEQ adequately simulated soil discharge. Calibration of parameters may improve the performance of the RWEQ in the Tarim Basin while parameterizing the wind erosion process to accurately estimate the threshold friction velocity may improve the APEX model in the Columbia Plateau.