Evaluation of RUSLE and spatial assessment of agricultural soil erosion in Finland
2023
Räsänen, Timo A. | Tähtikarhu, Mika | Uusi-Kämppä, Jaana | Piirainen, Sirpa | Turtola, Eila | https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0839-3155 | https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1277-2951 | https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3445-7290 | https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7764-5160 | 4100110410 | 4100110410 | 4100110410 | 4100110410 | Luonnonvarakeskus
Agricultural soil erosion has negative effects on surface water quality and aquatic ecosystems. A major impediment to agricultural erosion management in Finland has been the lack of high-resolution country-scale data on the spatial distribution of erosion. As a result, erosion mitigation measures have been targeted with limited information. Therefore, we evaluated the performance of the widely used RUSLE model against measurements from experimental fields, used the model to produce a two-metre resolution crop and management independent erosion estimate for all agricultural lands of Finland, and analysed erosion over different spatial scales. RUSLE showed skill (R2 = 0.76, NSE = 0.72) in estimating the observed erosion at experimental fields (55–2100 kg ha−1 yr−1) but with large errors (mean: −134 kg ha−1 yr−1, 90% range: −711 and 218 kg ha−1 yr−1). The evaluation, however, suggests that RUSLE performs similarly in Finland as elsewhere. The analysis of the developed country-scale data, in turn, revealed high erosion regions, and it showed how erosion varies between sub-catchment and between and within field parcels. For example, high-erosion areas concentrated in the proximity of water bodies were identified at the sub-catchment and within-field parcel scales. Altogether, the results demonstrate the predictive skill of RUSLE in high-latitude conditions, fill the earlier data gap in country-scale erosion, provide information for targeting erosion mitigation measures, and considerably improve the understanding of the spatial distribution of erosion in Finland.
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