In 2022 I was awarded a Juan de la Cierva-Incorporación fellowship, which is a 3-year postodoctoral grant from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. During the coming three years I will continue the research I started in the XTREME project. This will include the application of the SPHY model, including the novel channel module, to a series of case studies.
CATENA 233: 107480, 2023
Soil erosion is a natural process that can be accelerated by natural and anthropogenic disturbances and lead to land degradation and geomorphological changes. Analyzing soil erosion and catchment sediment dynamics is a complex process. In such cases, simplified methods can be applied to analyze soil erosion and sediment connectivity variations and to understand sediment flux in a river basin to inform watershed management. In this study, we tested the combined method of the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE), the Index of Connectivity (IC), and the Sediment Delivery Ratio (SDR) to estimate sediment yield (SY) and investigate the spatiotemporal variation of soil erosion rates and sediment connectivity in the Mediterranean Rogativa catchment (∼53 km2), Southeast Spain. In this ‘RUSLE-IC-SDR’ approach, the sediment delivery ratio was estimated from the spatially distributed index of connectivity, calculated using SedInConnect and accounting for the trapping efficiency of 58 check dams in the channels, while assuming 100 % sediment delivery in other parts of the channels. The sediment delivery ratio was calibrated, and sediment yield was verified for the year 2001 using observed sediment yield (in 2003) behind the non-silted check dams. Predicted soil erosion, connectivity (IC, SDR, and SY), and soil erosion-connectivity maps were quantified and compared over time and space, revealing the impacts of rainfall, land use, and check dams. These maps show higher values for areas closer to the channels than on the hillslopes, and higher values on croplands than other land use types, as well as a decrease over time due to land use change and the construction of check dams. The relatively simple ‘RUSLE-IC-SDR’ approach was found to be effective in identifying the sources and hotspots on the hillslopes of a complex Mediterranean catchment. Future studies should consider the channel erosion processes as the RUSLE-IC-SDR does not take these into account.
SPHY User Days, Wageningen, the Netherlands
October 10-11, 2023
EGU General Assembly, Vienna, Austria
April 23-28, 2023
IAHS Scientific Assembly, Montpellier, France
May 30-June 3, 2022