Isoerodent surfaces of the continental US for conservation planning with the RUSLE2 water erosion model

Abstract

Soil erosion computation technology plays an important role in planning to prevent and mitigate soil loss and non-point source pollution from agricultural fields. In the US, the RUSLE2 erosion model is extensively used by conservationists to support efforts for adoption of new farm management practices and implementation of conservation alternatives. Within RUSLE2, the impact of precipitation is described by average annual rainfall erosivity ($R$) which is represented by a smoothly and spatially varying surface that covers the entire US, assuring consistency in erosion predictions for conservation planning. In the current RUSLE2 erosivity database, these surfaces were developed by a laborious process of analyzing and processing data by hand, so this had not been updated since 2001. In this study, a protocol to generate isoerodent surfaces for the continental US is proposed and evaluated. The methodology describes steps that integrate the official RUSLE2 calculations with proposed new methods. The newly generated surfaces were compared to official RUSLE2 erosivity surfaces and evaluated for smoothness. Results indicate agreement with RUSLE2 surfaces for absolute values but with slightly higher spatial and temporal smoothness. Further refinements include the inclusion of small events, determination of spatially varying recurrence intervals, and consideration of two-axis trend interpolation enhanced with additional weighting accounting for data gaps, which gives more weight to weather stations that have more complete datasets. The protocol provides the means for capturing long-term climatic variations impacting soil erosion in a consistent way. This protocol supports forthcoming updates to the RUSLE2 climate database and serves as a baseline for future enhancements in the characterization of changing climatological drivers impacting soil erosion.