• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.1004-1009
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• 2011

Soil erosion in North Korea has been continued to accelerate by deterioration of topographical conditions. However, few studies have been conducted to predict the amount of soil loss in North Korea due to limited data so far. Rainfall erosivity is an important factor to predict the amount of long-term annual soil loss by USLE (universal soil loss equation). The purpose of this study is to investigate rainfall erosivity, which presented the potential risk of soil erosion by water, in North Korea. Annual rainfall erosivities for 27 stations in North Korea for 1983~2010 were calculated using regression models based on modified Institute of Agricultural Sciences (IAS) index in this study. The result showed that annual average rainfall erosivity in North Korea ranged from 2,249 to 7,526 and averaged value was $4,947MJmm\;ha^{-1}\;hr^{-1}\;yr^{-1}$, which corresponded to about 70% of annual average rainfall erosivity in South Korea. The finding was that the potential risk of soil erosion in North Korea has been accelerated by the increase of rainfall erosivity since the late 1990s.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2008.05a
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• pp.1295-1299
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• 2008

Soil erosion is a natural process and has been occurring in most areas in the watershed. However, accelerated soil erosion rates have been causing numerous environmental impacts in recent years. To reduce soil erosion and sediment inflow into the water bodies, site-specific soil erosion best management practices (BMPs) need to be established and implemented. The most commonly used soil erosion model is the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE), which have been used in many countries over 30 years. The Sediment Assessment Tool for Effective Erosion Control (SATEEC) ArcView GIS system has been developed and enhanced to estimate the soil erosion and sediment yield from the watershed using the USLE input data. In the last decade, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model also has been widely used to estimate soil erosion and sediment yield at a watershed scale. The SATEEC system estimates the LS factor using the equation suggested by Moore and Burch, while the SWAT model estimates the LS factor based on the relationship between sub watershed average slope and slope length. Thus the SATEEC and SWAT estimated soil erosion values were compared in this study. The differences in LS factor estimation methods in the SATEEC and SWAT caused significant difference in estimated soil erosion. In this study, the difference was -51.9%(default threshold)$\sim$-54.5%(min. threshold) between SATEEC and non-patched SWAT, and -7.8%(default threshold)$\sim$+3.8%(min. threshold) between SATEEC and patched SWAT estimated soil erosion.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.3-12
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• 2008

Soil erosion is a natural process and has been occurring in most areas in the watershed. However, accelerated soil erosion rates have been causing numerous environmental impacts in recent years. To reduce soil erosion and sediment inflow into the water bodies, site-specific soil erosion best management practices(BMPs) need to be established and implemented. The most commonly used soil erosion model is the Universal Soil Loss Equation(USLE), which have been used in many countries over 30 years. The Sediment Assessment Tool for Effective Erosion Control(SATEEC) ArcView GIS system has been developed and enhanced to estimate the soil erosion and sediment yield trom the watershed using the USLE input data. In the last decade, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool(SWAT) model also has been widely used to estimate soil erosion and sediment yield at a watershed scale. The SATEEC system estimates the LS factor using the equation suggested by Moore and Burch, while the SWAT model estimates the LS factor based on the relationship between sub watershed average slope and slope length. Thus the SATEEC and SWAT estimated soil erosion values were compared in this study. The differences in LS factor estimation methods in the SATEEC and SWAT caused significant difference in estimated soil erosion. In this study, the difference was -51.9%(default threshold)${\sim}-54.5%$(min. threshold) between SATEEC and non-patched SWAT, and -7.8%(default threshold)${\sim}+3.8%$(min. threshold) between SATEEC and patched SWAT estimated soil erosion.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.56-65
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• 2006

In the past, flooding is commonly occurred in the Bockha stream watershed area with inundation by the water and eroded sediments. The purpose of this study is to find the relationship between area under cultivation and amount of soil erosion in each watershed areas using geographic information system(GIS) for decreasing the damages of flooding. The soil erosion amounts were computed on GIS using by universal soil loss equation(USLE). Small catchment areas was divided by topography and computed soil erosion amounts. The mean amount of soil erosion is 0.03 $ton/ha{\cdot}yr$ on the condition of the 1,329 mm/yr annual precipitation. The high erosion area(0.05 $ton/ha{\cdot}yr$) is shown in farm areas of the Sangyong-ri in Baeksa-myeon. The high erosion watershed area is related on the slopes of the farm lands and bare soil areas adjoining between the mountain slope and fluvial streams show much amount of soil erosion.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.37-47
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• 2017

The Mekong River plays an extremely important role in Southeast Asia. Flowing through six countries, including China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos PDR, Cambodia, and Vietnam, it is a site of great biological and ecological diversity and the habitat of numerous species of fish. It also supports a very large population that lives along the river basin. Therefore, much attention has been focused on the giant Mekong River Basin, particularly, its soil erosion and sedimentation problems. In fact, many methods have been used to calculate and simulate these problems. However, in the case of the Mekong River Basin, the available data is limited because of the extreme size of the area (about $795,000km^2$) and lack of equipment systems in the countries through which the Mekong River flows. In this study, we applied the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) model in a GIS (Geographic Information System) framework to calculate the amount of soil erosion and sediment load during the selected period, from 1951 to 2007. The result points out dangerous areas, such as the Upper Mekong River Basin and 3S Basin (containing the Sekong, Sesan, and Srepok Rivers) that are suffering the serious consequences of soil erosion problems. Moreover, the present model is also useful for supporting river basin management in the implementation of sustainable management practices in the Mekong River Basin and other basins.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers Conference
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.241-246
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• 2005

Doam watershed is located at alpine areas in the Kangwon province. The annual average precipitation, including snow accumulation during the winter, at the Doam watershed is significantly higher than other areas. Thus, pollutant laden runoff and sediment discharge from the alpine agricultural fields are causing water quality degradation at the Doam watershed. To estimate soil erosion from the agricultural fields, the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) has been widely used because of its simplicity to use. The USLE rainfall erosivity (R) factor is responsible for impacts of rainfall on soil erosion. Thus, use of constant R factor for the Doam watershed cannot reflect variations in precipitation patterns, consequently soil erosion estimation. In the early spring at the Doam watershed, the stream flow increases because of snow melt, which results in erosion of loosened soil experiencing freezing and thaw during the winter. However, the USLE model cannot consider the impacts on soil erosion of freezing and thaw of the soil. Also, it cannot simulate temporal changes in USLE input parameters. Thus, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model was investigated for its applicability to estimate soil erosion at the Doam watershed, instead of the widely used USLE model. The SWAT hydrology and erosion/sediment components were validated after calibration of the hydrologic component. The $R^2$ and Nash-Sutcliffe coefficient values are higher enough, thus it was found the SWAT model can be efficiently used to simulate hydrology and sediment yield at the Doam watershed. The effects of snow melt on SWAT estimated stream flow and sediment were investigated using long-term precipitation and temperature data at the Doam watershed. It was found significant amount of flow and sediment in the spring are contributed by melting snow accumulated during the winter. Thus, it is recommend that the SWAT model capable of simulating snow melt and long-term weather data needs to be used in estimating soil erosion at alpine agricultural land instead of the USLE model for successful soil erosion management at the Doam watershed.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.52-64
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• 2020

The universal soil loss equation (USLE), a model for estimating the potential soil loss, has been used not only in research areas but also in establishing national policies in South Korea. Despite its wide applicability, USLE cannot adequately address the effect of seasonal variances. To overcome this limit, the ArcGIS-based Sediment Assessment Tool for Effective Erosion (ArcSATEEC) has been developed as an alternative model. Although the field-scale (< 100 ㎡) application of this model produced reliable estimation results, it is still challenging to validate accuracy of the model estimation because it only estimates potential soil losses, not the actual sediment yield. Therefore, in this study, a method for estimating actual soil loss based on the ArcSATEEC model was suggested. The model was applied to eight watersheds in South Korea to estimate sediment yields. Correction factor was introduced for each watershed, and the estimated sediment yield was compared with that of the estimated yield by LOAD ESTimator (LOADEST). Sediment yield estimation for all watersheds exhibited reliable results, and the validity of the proposed correction factor was confirmed, suggesting the correction factor needs to be considered in estimating actual soil loss.

• Journal of Korean Society of Rural Planning
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• v.10 no.1 s.22
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• pp.19-26
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• 2004

In this paper, forestry area change effect on the soil erosion in Asan lake watershed was estimated. Temporal variations of land use in the study watershed were analyzed from Landsat-5 TM remote sensing images. Geographic Information System (GIS) combined with Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) was used to estimate the soil erosion of Asan lake watershed. Spatial data for each USLE factors was obtained from the Landsat-5 TM remote sensing images and 1/25,000 scale digital contour maps. Sediment yield to Asan lake was estimated by sediment delivery ratio and sediment accumulation in lake was estimated by trap efficiency. The estimation methods were validated for sediment accumulation in Asan lake. From the hydrographic survey from 1974 to 2003 for Asan lake, sediment accumulation was measured. The estimated accumulation sediment of 303,569ton/yr showed similar value with observed of 295,888ton/yr. From the validated estimation methods, the increasing amount of soil erosion when 1% of forest area in Asan lake watershed decreases was calculated from 12.91 to 1482.05ton/yr.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers Conference
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.34-38
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• 2001

The purpose of this study is to estimate temporal soil loss change according to long-term land cover changes using GIS and RS. Revised USLE(Universal Soil Loss Equation) factors were made by using point rainfall data, DEM(Digital Elevation Model), soil map and land cover map. Past two decades land cover changes were traced by using Landsat MSS and TM data. Soil loss in 2000 increased $6.3\;kg/m^{2}/yr$ compared with that in 1983. This was mainly caused by the increased upland area.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.131-140
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• 2001

The present study is focused on improving the methodology for the determination of parameters involved in USLE(Universal Soil Loss Equation) based on distributed system concept and investigation of sediment delivery ratio. Generally the distributed system concept consists of grid networks throughout the watershed and sediment can be traced from grid to rid in the direction of the steepest descent. The sediment yield data together with physical data of 10 small irrigation reservoirs in Kyounggi-Do are collected. After the sediment delivery ratio of a grid is defined to be related tothe fraction of forested or covered with delivery proofing area of the grid, the preportionality coefficient(C$_1$) is introduced. The distributed system model is calibrated using the available data for 8 reservoirs and is verified with the data for the ramaining 2 reservoirs, and regression analysis is made to express the proportionality coefficient $C_1$ in terms of watershed physical characteristics. By applying this results the verification of the distributed system model for 2 reservoirs showed a fair result, which justifies the applicability of the proposed method in the present study.