Visual Validation of the e-RUSLE Model Applied at the Pan-European Scale

Bosco, C., de Rigo, D., Dewitte, O., 2013. <strong>Visual Validation of the e-RUSLE Model Applied at the Pan-European Scale</strong>. <em>Scientific Topics Focus 1</em>, MRI-11a13. Notes Transdiscipl. Model. Env., Maieutike Research Initiative. doi: 10.6084/m9.figshare.844627 <br>Version: DRAFT 0.4.1<br>This is a preliminary version. The views expressed are those of the authors and may not be regarded as stating an official position of mentioned organisations. <strong>Visual Validation of the e-RUSLE Model Applied at the Pan-European Scale</strong> Claudio Bosco ¹ ² ⁴, Daniele de Rigo ² ³ ⁴ and Olivier Dewitte ⁵ 1 Loughborough University, Department of Civil and Building Engineering,<br>Loughborough, United Kingdom 2 Joint Research Centre of the European Commission,<br>Institute for Environment and Sustainability, Ispra, Italy 3 Politecnico di Milano, Dipartimento di Elettronica, Informazione e Bioingegneria, Milano, Italy 4 Maieutike Research Initiative, Milano, Italy 5 Royal Museum for Central Africa, Department of Earth Sciences, Tervuren, Belgium Validating soil erosion estimates at regional or larger scale is still extremely challenging. The common procedures are not technically and financially applicable for large spatial extents, despite this some options are still applicable. For validating the European map of soil erosion by water calculated using the approach proposed in Bosco et al. [1] we applied alternative qualitative methods based on visual evaluation. The 1 km 2 map was validated through a visual and categorical comparison between modelled and observed soil erosion. A procedure employing high-resolution Google Earth images and pictures as validation data is here shown. The resolution of the images, rapidly increased during the last years, allows for a visual qualitative estimation of local soil erosion rates. A cluster of 3x3 K m 2 around 85 selected points was analysed by the authors. The results corroborate the map obtained applying the e-RUSLE model. The 63% of a random sample of 732 grid cells are accurate, 83% at least moderately accurate with a bootstrap p ≤ 0.05). For each of the 85 clusters, the complete details of the validation also containing the comments of the evaluators and the geo-location of the analysed areas have been reported. <br><strong>References</strong> <br>[1] Bosco, C., de Rigo, D., Poesen, J., Dewitte, O., Panagos, P., 2014. Modelling Soil Erosion<br>at European Scale: Towards Harmonization and Reproducibility. Nat. Hazards Earth<br>Syst. Sci. Discuss. [2] Merritt, W.S., Letcher, R.A., Jakeman, A.J., 2003. A review of erosion and sediment<br>transport models. Environmental Modelling and Software 18 (8), 761-799. [3] Aksoy, H., Kavvas, M. L., 2005. A review of hillslope and watershed scale erosion and<br>sediment transport models. Catena 64 (2), 247-271. [4] Jetten, V., de Roo, A., Favis-Mortlock, D., 1999. Evaluation of field-scale and<br>catchment-scale soil erosion models. Catena 37, 521-541. [5] Scott, D.F., Van Wyk, D.B., 1990. 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