A comparative study of rainfall erosivity for eastern and western Slovenia

Abstract

Climate in Slovenia has changed notably over the past century. As regional temperatures have risen, a more vigorous hydrologic cycle ensued; in many places the intensity of rainstorms has become greater. The seasonal distributions of rainfall has changed with significant implications for patterns of vegetation growth and hence for soil erosion. Due to predicted climate change increased frequency of extreme precipitation events can be expected during the time when soil is without plant cover and exposed to the erosive forces. In addition to ample daily and several day precipitation events, water erosion occurs with heavy rainfalls that last from couple of minutes to several hours. Overview of rainfall intensity index and rainfall erosivity, calculated with adapted USLE (universal soil loss equation) method, is given for three meteorological stations in Slovenia for period 1991-2006. Analyzed locations are situated on different climate areas with noticeable different rainfall regime at western (Bilje at Nova Gorica, Rateče) and eastern (Murska Sobota) part of Slovenia.