Modelling erosion, sediment transport and sediment yield

This publication emphasises the diversity of the approach to modelling erosion and sediment yield and the need for closer integration of field monitoring and modelling activities, but nevertheless provides clear evidence of many significant advances and achievements within the general area. The central role that modelling must play in dealing with the many environmental problems associated with erosion and sediment transport and in the development of effective catchment management and sediment control strategies is also highlighted.

 

acrobat_icon Modelling erosion, sediment transport and sediment yield

 

Edited by Wolfgang Summer and Desmond E. Walling | IHP-VI Technical Documents in Hydrology No. 60, UNESCO, Paris, 2002


Contents

  • Introduction
  • What approach to the modelling of catchment scale erosion and sediment transport should be adopted? – R.J. Wasson
  • Soil erosion by water prediction technology developments in the United States – D.C. Flanagan, M.A.Nearing and L.D. Norton
  • Erosion and sediment yield modelling in the former USSR – N.N. Bobrovitskaya
  • Physically-based erosion and sediment yield modelling: the SHETRAN concept – J.C. Bathurst
  • Multiscale Green’s function Monte Carlo approach to erosion modelling and its application to land use optimization – L. Mitas and H. Mitasova
  • Developments in physically-based overland flow modelling – W. Summer
  • Sediment transport modelling – combination of theoretical concepts and practical approach – C.T. Yang
  • Sediment transport analysed by energy derived concepts – W. Zhang and W. Summer
  • The linkage between hydrological processes and sediment transport at the river basin scale – a modelling study – V. Krysanova, J. Williams, G. Bürger and H. Österle
  • Essai de modélisation du risque d’érosion hydrique utilisant des paramèters socio-économiques. Cas d’une zone rural sénégalaise – A. Thioubou and M.W. Ostrowski
  • Trends in soil erosion and sediment yield in the alpine basin of the Austrian Danube – E. Klaghofer, K. Hintersteiner and W. Summer
  • Suspended sediment structure: implications for sediment transport/yield modelling – I.G. Droppo, D.E. Walling and E.D. Ongley
  • On assessment of erosion and model validation – B. Hasholt
  • Using 137Cs measurements to test distributed soil erosion and sediment delivery models – D.E. Walling and Q. He

 

Introduction

In July 1998, the International Commission on Continental Erosion of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences organised a symposium in Vienna, Austria, with the theme Modelling Soil Erosion, Sediment Transport and Closely Related Hydrological Processes. The symposium was co-sponsored by UNESCO, as a contribution to IHP-V and more particularly to IHP-V Project 2.1 dealing with Vegetation, Land-Water Use and Erosion Processes and Project 6.2 concerned with Land Use, Deforestation, Erosion and Sedimentation in the Humid Tropics.

The symposium was held at the headquarters of the IAEA, and was widely agreed to have been a very successful meeting. The proceedings were published by IAHS Press (Modelling Soil Erosion, Sediment Transport and Closely Related Hydrological Processes, Proceedings of the Vienna Symposium, July 13–17, 1998, eds. W. Summer, E. Klaghofer and W. Zhang, IAHS Publication no. 249, 1998) and the 50 papers were contributed by authors from many different regions of the world.

The formal and informal discussion sessions at the meeting emphasised the diversity of the approach to modelling erosion and sediment yield and the need for closer integration of field monitoring and modelling activities, but nevertheless provided clear evidence of many significant advances and achievements within the general area. The discussions also highlighted the central role that modelling must play in dealing with the many environmental problems associated with erosion and sediment transport and in the development of effective catchment management and sediment control strategies.

To build on the success of the symposium and to contribute further to IHP-V Projects 2.1 and 6.2, it was agreed to assemble a collection of papers dealing with recent work on the field of modelling erosion, sediment transport and sediment yield, that could be published in the UNESCO Technical Documents in Hydrology Series, in order to demonstrate the state-of-the-art in this important area. Many of the papers built on contributions to the symposium, but others were solicited to extend the scope of the collection. The process of collating the papers into the final electronic form proved a lengthy task and the editors are grateful to the authors for their forbearance in accepting the resulting delays and in responding to requests for additional material. Particular thanks are extended to Dr Adrian Collins from the Department of Geography at the University of Exeter, UK, for his help with the final stages of the collation process.


Wolfgang Summer, Hagenbrunn, Austria
Desmond Walling, Department of Geography, University of Exeter, UK.