Rainfall erosivity across Austria's main agricultural areas: Identification of rainfall characteristics and spatiotemporal patterns
Cristina Vásquez, Andreas Klik, Christine Stumpp, Gregor Laaha, Peter Strauß, Nur Banu Özcelik, Georg Pistotnik, Shuiqing Yin, Tomáš Dostál, Gabriel Gaona, Stefan Strohmeier
Abstract
Target area of this study are the main agricultural production zones of Austria. Most important croplands cover the flat to pre-alpine areas concentrated in the north, east, and southeast of Austria. The novelty of our study is the spatiotemporal assessment of rainfall characteristics that drive erosivity at the event level as well as the identification of erosive rainfall distribution patterns within the events. Our assessment approach allows the definition of both typical and extreme erosivity. Long-term and high temporal resolution rainfall datasets were used to apply a clustering approach, seasonal and spatial analyses, and rainfall distributions assessment (isopleths) of the identified rainfall types (clusters). Three dominant erosive event-types (clusters) were identified that strongly relate with Austria’s seasonality and complex topography. The most erosive rainfall events (cluster C1) are characterized by a high intensity and short duration. C1 events have the largest occurrence frequency in pre-alpine southern Austria and occur from May to September. Unlike the less erosive and more evenly distributed event types (C2 and C3) the highly erosive C1 events have a pronounced maximum rainfall intensity at the onset of the event.