AGNPS-UM: applying the USLE-M within the agricultural non point source pollution model

Abstract In the Agricultural Non Source Pollution model (AGNPS), grid-cell erosion is predicted for individual rainfall events using the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) even though the USLE is not well suited for this purpose. A new modification of the USLE, the USLE-M, is better suited to predicting event erosion and also provides a mechanism for accounting for the impact of upslope runoff on erosion that is not available with the USLE. A software system that replaces the USLE by the USLE-M in AGNPS is described and its impact illustrated by an example based on a 1-in-10 year event on a 2300 ha catchment near Nundle, New South Wales, Australia.

[1]  L. M. Risse,et al.  USLE-M : Empirical modeling rainfall erosion through runoff and sediment concentration , 1998 .

[2]  G. R. Foster,et al.  Evaluation of Rainfall-Runoff Erosivity Factors for Individual Storms , 1982 .

[3]  W. H. Wischmeier,et al.  Predicting rainfall-erosion losses from cropland east of the Rocky Mountains , 1965 .

[4]  G. R. Foster,et al.  Predicting soil erosion by water : a guide to conservation planning with the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) , 1997 .

[5]  P. Kinnell.  Slope length factor for applying the USLE-M to erosion in grid cells , 2001 .

[6]  W. H. Wischmeier,et al.  Predicting rainfall erosion losses : a guide to conservation planning , 1978 .

[7]  J. Poesen,et al.  The European Soil Erosion Model (EUROSEM): A dynamic approach for predicting sediment transport from fields and small catchments. , 1998 .

[8]  J. G. Arnold,et al.  A system of erosion—sediment yield models , 1997 .

[9]  G. R. Foster,et al.  Evaluating Irregular Slopes for Soil Loss Prediction , 1974 .

[10]  Runooff ratio as a factor in the empirical modelling of soil erosion by individual rainstorms , 1997 .

[11]  E. A. Hiler,et al.  Prediction of Sediment Yields from Small Watersheds , 1971 .

[12]  G. R. Foster,et al.  WEPP: A new generation of erosion prediction technology , 1991 .

[13]  P. I. A. Kinnell,et al.  The IxEA erosivity index: An index with the capacity to give more direct consideration to hydrology in predicting short-term erosion in the USLE modeling environment , 1995 .

[14]  Gerard Govers,et al.  A GIS procedure for automatically calculating the USLE LS factor on topographically complex landscape units , 1996 .

[15]  John R. Williams.  Sediment-yield prediction with Universal Equation using runoff energy factor , 1975 .