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  Using Soil Erosion Modeling for Improved Conservation Planning: 
A GIS-based Tutorial


Models:

Computing RUSLE3d using GIS


The basic equation is used:

E = R K LS C P

 where E  is the average soil loss, R is the rainfall intensity, K is the soil, C is the cover, P is the prevention practices and LS is the topographic factor: 


LS(r)  =  (m+1)  [ A(r) / a0 ]m  [ sin b(r) / b0 ]n

 where A is upslope contributing area per unit contour width, b is the slope, a0  = 22.1m,  b0 = 0.09, m is 0.4-0.6 and n=1-1.4. The techniques used to compute the necessary parameters in GIS are in the following sections: DEM (upslope area, slope), Soils (K-factor), Rainfall (R-factor), Landcover (C and P factors).

The model is simple enough to be run as a sequence of commands provided here for

For routine applications the model can be run as a script, using Avenue in ArcView, Visual basic in ArcGIS8, and tcl/tk or UNIX scripting in GRASS.

 

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