TY - JOUR

T1 - Using high-resolution radar images to determine vegetation cover for soil erosion assessments

AU - Bargiel, Damian

AU - Herrmann, S.

AU - Jadczyszyn, J.

N1 - Funding Information: New remote sensing technology for soil erosion assessment is supported by a recent report published by the European Commission ( European Commission, 2012 ). This is especially true for agricultural sites where most of European soil erosion processes occur ( Verheijen et al., 2009 ; Boardman and Poesen, 2006 ). Van-Camp et al. (2004) underlined the need for remote sensing data with high spatial and temporal resolution for a soil erosion monitoring on the European scale and Eckelmann et al. (2006) refer explicitly to the potentials provided by radar data. C factor determination based on land cover classification generated from optical sensors is often limited by cloud cover ( Vrieling et al., 2008 ). Satellite-based radar is not affected by this restriction thanks to its all-weather capability. This allows for a more reliable and accurate determination of C factor when compared to optical sensors. Funding Information: Acknowledgements are addressed to Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt (DBU) for funding of this study. To Dr. Martha D. Graf and Dr. Karin Berkhoff for proof reading of this article. We would also like to thank two unknown reviewers for the very helpful comments and suggestions. Thanks are also addressed to the German Aerospace Center (DLR) for provisioning of TerraSAR-X images and to the Faculty of Earth Sciences and Spatial Management from the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin for provision of meteorological data. Copyright: Copyright 2013 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

PY - 2013/7/30

Y1 - 2013/7/30

N2 - Healthy soils are crucial for human well-being. Because soils are threatened worldwide, politicians recognize the need for soil protection. For example, the European Commission has launched the Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection, which requests the European member states to identify high risk areas for soil degradation. Most states use the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) to assess soil erosion risk at the national scale. The USLE includes different factors, one of them is the vegetation cover and management factor (C factor). Modern satellite-based radar sensors now provide highly accurate vegetation cover data, enabling opportunities to improve the accuracy of the C factor. The presented study proves the suitability for C factor determination based on a multi-temporal classification of high-resolution radar images. Further USLE factors were derived from existing data sources (meteorological data, soil maps, digital elevation model) to conduct an USLE-based soil erosion assessment. The resulting map illustrates a qualitative assessment for soil erosion risk within a plot of about 7*12km in an agricultural region in Poland that is very susceptible to soil erosion processes. A high erosion risk of more than 10 tonnes per ha and year was assessed to occur on 13.6% (646ha) of the agricultural areas within the investigated plot. Further 7.8% (372ha) of agricultural land is threaten by a medium risk of 5-10 tonnes per ha and year. Such a spatial information about areas of high or medium soil erosion risk are crucial for the development of strategies for the protection of soils.

AB - Healthy soils are crucial for human well-being. Because soils are threatened worldwide, politicians recognize the need for soil protection. For example, the European Commission has launched the Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection, which requests the European member states to identify high risk areas for soil degradation. Most states use the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) to assess soil erosion risk at the national scale. The USLE includes different factors, one of them is the vegetation cover and management factor (C factor). Modern satellite-based radar sensors now provide highly accurate vegetation cover data, enabling opportunities to improve the accuracy of the C factor. The presented study proves the suitability for C factor determination based on a multi-temporal classification of high-resolution radar images. Further USLE factors were derived from existing data sources (meteorological data, soil maps, digital elevation model) to conduct an USLE-based soil erosion assessment. The resulting map illustrates a qualitative assessment for soil erosion risk within a plot of about 7*12km in an agricultural region in Poland that is very susceptible to soil erosion processes. A high erosion risk of more than 10 tonnes per ha and year was assessed to occur on 13.6% (646ha) of the agricultural areas within the investigated plot. Further 7.8% (372ha) of agricultural land is threaten by a medium risk of 5-10 tonnes per ha and year. Such a spatial information about areas of high or medium soil erosion risk are crucial for the development of strategies for the protection of soils.

KW - C factor

KW - Radar

KW - Remote sensing

KW - Soil erosion

KW - USLE

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84877075386&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.jenvman.2013.03.049

DO - 10.1016/j.jenvman.2013.03.049

M3 - Article

C2 - 23624425

AN - SCOPUS:84877075386

VL - 124

SP - 82

EP - 90

JO - Journal of Environmental Management

JF - Journal of Environmental Management

SN - 0301-4797

ER -