0000000000825639
AUTHOR
L. D’agostino
Influence of the rainfall measurement interval on the erosivity determinations in the Mediterranean area
Summary The single-storm erosion index, EI, of the USLE and RUSLE models may vary appreciably with the rainfall measurement interval, Δ t . However, the effect of Δ t on EI has not been investigated in the Mediterranean area. Approximately 700 erosive events and 1.5 years of rainfall energies measured by a rainfall impact measurement device were used to evaluate the effect of the rainfall measurement interval (5 min ⩽ Δ t ⩽ 60 min) on the erosivity determinations in the Mediterranean semi-arid area of Sicily. According to both literature and practical considerations, a reference time interval equal to 15 min was used in this investigation. Hourly rainfall data led to an appreciable underes…
Assessing changes in rainfall erosivity in Sicily during the twentieth century
Changes in rainfall erosivity are an expected consequence of climate change. Long-term series of the single storm erosion index, EI, may be analysed to detect trends in rainfall erosivity. An indirect approach has to be applied for estimating EI, given that long series of rainfall intensities are seldom available. In this paper, a method for estimating EI from the corresponding rainfall amount, he, was developed for Sicily. This method was then applied at 17 Sicilian locations, representative of different climatic zones of the region, to generate a long series (i.e. from 1916 to 1999 in most cases) of EI values. Linear and step (step located at 1970) trends in annual and seasonal erosivity …