13th Conference on Applied Climatology and the 10th Conference on Aviation, Range, and Aerospace Meteorology

Monday, 13 May 2002
Analyzing Erosive Potential across the United States
James K. Marron, USDA/Natural Resources Conservation Service, Portland, OR; and G. Johnson, D. S. Hollinger, and D. J. Angel
The Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) is the primary tool used by the USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service and other agencies and businesses to estimate water erosion at the field scale. RUSLE requires climatic information, including mean monthly precipitation and temperature, and several pieces of information about the erosive potential of rainfall. Recently, precipitation statistics for thousands of stations across the United States were analyzed and used to calculate the so-called R Factor and 10-Year return period Erosive Index (EI10) at these stations. RUSLE requires the calculation of R Factor on a bi-monthly schedule or a total of 24 period R’s. The contributed erosivity during each of the 24 individual periods is totaled to provide an annual total erosivity. Distribution curves were calculated for each station and calculated Average County values and plotted. The curves are constructed by determining the percent of the annual total R contributed during each of the 24 periods and then accumulating the individual period contribution through the year. Each of the curves reflects the energy of the storms occurring and the 30-minute storm intensity. The results of the constructed curves and analysis of the curves are presented.

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