Hi I am doing soil erosion modelling applying RUSLE equation. But I was searching for the most appropriate and latest method to determine K-factor for a large area like India or Brazil or Australia? Please suggest. Thank you in advance for your time and effort.
The K factor is determined by soil series or type. At the scales suggested, there are typically many soil series, and thus many or at least several K factors to consider. These could be mapped in GIS by soil type, and then weighted average determined for country by unit area of each soil series.
Using the harmonized world soil database that is publicly available from the FAO website can be downloaded and mapped into ArcGIS for large scale soil assessment, either at the country or continental level. Would suggest using this dataset along with the soil nomograph and modified K factor equation.
Please, visit FAO GeoNetwork for world digital soil map in ESRI file format.
At a continental scale, your best bet in estimating the USLE K factor is by using gridded data on soil properties from ISRIC. Discrete soil maps at this scale (say for example the HWSD) would never come with the required attribute information, which is why for large-scale soil erodibility mapping the rasterised data on soil properties from ISRIC are increasingly being used.
Article Mapping potential soil erosion using RUSLE, Remote Sensing, ...
You can derive the K factor by the equation given by Sharpley and Williams using FAO/ UNESCO Digital Soil Map.
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Geoscience
- Asia
- India