Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2013, 10(10), 4752-4766; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph10104752
An Upscaling Method for Cover-Management Factor and Its Application in the Loess Plateau of China
1
State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, College of Resources Science and Technology, Beijing Normal University, 19 Xinjiekou Outer Street, Beijing 100875, China
2
State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 18 Shuangqing Road, Beijing 100085, China
3
School of Geography, Beijing Normal University, 19 Xinjiekou Outer Street, Beijing 100875, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 25 July 2013 / Revised: 26 September 2013 / Accepted: 27 September 2013 / Published: 9 October 2013
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Assessment, Management, and Policy-Making for Environmental Pollution Related to Land Use and Land Cover)
Abstract
The cover-management factor (C-factor) is important for studying soil erosion. In addition, it is important to use sampling plot data to estimate the regional C-factor when assessing erosion and soil conservation. Here, the loess hill and gully region in Ansai County, China, was studied to determine a method for computing the C-factor. This C-factor is used in the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) at a regional scale. After upscaling the slope-scale computational equation, the C-factor for Ansai County was calculated by using the soil loss ratio, precipitation and land use/cover type. The multi-year mean C-factor for Ansai County was 0.36. The C-factor values were greater in the eastern region of the county than in the western region. In addition, the lowest C-factor values were found in the southern region of the county near its southern border. These spatial differences were consistent with the spatial distribution of the soil loess ratios across areas with different land uses. Additional research is needed to determine the effects of seasonal vegetation growth changes on the C-factor, and the C-factor upscaling uncertainties at a regional scale. View Full-TextKeywords:
cover-management factor; scale; soil erosion; rainfall erosivity; Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE); soil conservation; C-factors
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Zhao, W.; Fu, B.; Qiu, Y. An Upscaling Method for Cover-Management Factor and Its Application in the Loess Plateau of China. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2013, 10, 4752-4766.
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