Monitoring erosion processes as a tool for validating erosion and sediment transport models

The aim of the doctoral research is to develop and validate soil erosion monitoring as a tool for evaluating soil conservation measures and for the verification of erosion models. The study will employ remote sensing and UAV data to detect and quantify erosion events within a GIS framework. Monitoring outputs will be integrated into modelling approaches and tested under real-world conditions.

  Erosion risk in the Czech Republic as well as across Europe is primarily assessed using empirical erosion models based on long-term average input parameters (USLE, RUSLE, WaTEM/SEDEM). Their outputs are used as a basis for defining permissible soil loss and for designing mitigation measures within national policies and the Common Agricultural Policy of the EU. Event-based modelling approaches allow the incorporation of design parameters of causative rainfall events; however, they have not yet been sufficiently verified at the field or catchment scale. The combination of multiple spatial scales and differing temporal and spatial resolutions of remote sensing data (from Landsat and Copernicus data to UAV-based volumetric analyses of erosion features) is expected to improve the assessment of erosion risk for specific triggering events, including the analysis of off-site impact risks.

The proposed research assumes the integration of existing models operating on open data within a GIS environment with targeted monitoring campaigns, including UAV data and data obtained from rainfall and surface runoff simulation experiments. The research builds on specific research tasks defined by the supervisor and host institution (QL26020476, An effective approach to controlling soil conservation technologies based on erosion monitoring).