Calibration of RWEQ in a patchy landscape; a first step towards a regional scale wind erosion model

Despite the fact that wind erosion seriously affects the sustainable use of land in a large part of the world, validated wind erosion model that predicts windblown mass transport on a regional scale is lacking. The objectives of this research were to modify revised wind erosion equation (RWEQ) to estimate soil loss at a field scale in a way that it could operate at a regional scale, to calibrate the model using ground data collected from a field scale representing different land uses in Khanasser valley, Syria, and to estimate the total sediment fluxes (kg m−1) and soil losses (kg m−2) for farming fields.We implemented a modified version of RWEQ that represents wind erosion as a transient process, using time steps of 6 h. Beside this a number of adaptations including estimation of mass flux over the field boundaries, and the routing of sediment have been done. Originally, RWEQ was created and calibrated for application at the scale in USA. Due to the adaptations imparted to the original RWEQ and the different environmental condition in Syria of application areas, an intensive calibration process was required before applying the model to estimate the net soil loss from the experimental fields.The results of this test showed that the modified version of RWEQ provided acceptable predictions for the average mass flux from the measurement plot with a linear regression coefficient of R2 of 0.57 and 0.83 for the (d) test for the 20 wind events at the six tested plots.

► Adjustments to the revised wind erosion equation model were applied in this study.
► Mass fluxes were observed using 16 MWAC catchers on a grid set-up on a 60 × 60 m2 plot.
► The calibrated model is applicable to calculate the windblown mass flux and soil loss.
► The model results were tested against ground data from Khanasser valley, Syria.
► The model provides acceptable predictions for average mass flux of the studied plots.