Abstract
Vegetation cover is the key to controlling wind erosion. A brief review of wind erosion/cover models is outlined. Fryrear's (1985) soil cover (wheat stubble) model was evaluated against field wind tunnel results from far south-west N.S.W. Fryrear's equation over estimated the soil loss compared to field wind tunnel results.
Fryrear's model failed to provide meaningful results at low cover levels with the soil loss ratio, SLR>1 for percent soil cover, % SC<6. A single parameter exponential model was fitted to the wind tunnel data which ensured that SLR did not exceed 1 for 100% SC. Even with this improvement, the exponential model has drawbacks.
Results suggest that the SLR is sensitive to wind velocity and that SLR goes to 0 well before % SC=100. A method for approximating the threshold wind velocity required to initiate erosion for various cover levels is described. Using the recurrence interval for a prescribed wind velocity, the probability of erosion hazard for a field can be determined.
It is the authors belief that the wind tunnel is underestimating the occurrence of wind erosion events in this study. Three reasons why the wind tunnel may be underestimating erosion events are given.
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Leys, J.F. Towards a better model of the effect of prostrate vegetation cover on wind erosion. Vegetatio 91, 49–58 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00036047
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00036047