The Environmentalist, 25, 63–70, 2005


C 2005 Springer Science + Business Media, Inc. Manufactured in The Netherlands.

Predicting RUSLE (Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation) Monthly

Erosivity Index from Readily Available Rainfall Data
in Mediterranean Area

NAZZARENO DIODATO*
Monte Pino Research Observatory on Climate and Landscape (82100 Benevento, Italy) GTOS/ TEMS Network –
Terrestrial Ecosystem Monitoring Sites (FAO–United Nations)

Summary. Seasonal rainerosivity is important in the structure and dynamics of Mediterranean ecosystems.
The present paper contributes to the quantitative assessment of RUSLE’s monthly erosion index in a data-scarce
Mediterranean region. Therefore, a regionalized relationship for estimating monthly erosion index (EI30-month ) from
only three rainfall parameters has been obtained. Knowledge of the seasonal and annual distribution of erosivity
index, permit soil and water conservationists to make improved designs for erosion control, water harvesting or
small hydraulic structures. Although a few long data sets were used in the analysis, validation with established
monthly erosivity index values from other Italian locations, suggest that the model presented (r 2 = 0.973) is robust.
It is recommended to monthly erosivity estimates when experimental data-scarce rainfall become available.

Keywords: Erosivity index, rainfall, Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation, RUSLE, Mediterranean.

1. Introduction Recent applications of the RUSLE to evaluate the

Erosional soil degradation by stormwater is perceived
as one of the main problems worldwide since it has
large environmental and economic impacts, especially
in agricultural areas (Cooke and Doornkamp, 1990;
Ramı́rez and Finnerty, 1996; Lal, 1997; Steer, 1998;
Arshad and Martin, 2002). This is particularly so in
Mediterranean Europe, subjected to strong spatial-
temporal variability of weather (Crisci et al., 2002;
Renschler and Harbor, 2002), especially in rainfall
erosivity, which is extremely important for risk as-
sessment for soil erosion (Aronica and Ferro, 1997;
D’Odorico et al., 2001; Le Bissonnais et al., 2002).
Erosivity is the term used in the latest RUSLE version
of the well known model of Universal Soil Loss Equa-
tion (Revised USLE, Renard el al., 1997; Foster, 2004)
to described the potential for soil to be washed off into
waterways during storms.
*Corresponding author: E-mail: nazdiod@tin.it
risks associated with soil erosion spatial variability
in Europe (Renschler et al., 1999; Abel et al., 2000;
van der Knijff, 2000; Deumlich et al., 2000; Bartolini
et al., 2003; Svorin, 2003) and elsewhere in the world
(Toy and Osterkamp, 1995; Yoder and Lown, 1995;
Mitasova et al., 1996; Turnage et al., 1997; Cox and
Madramootoo, 1998; Mitra et al., 1998; Andrew and
Millward Janet, 1999; Mati et al., 2000; Boggs et al.
2001; Wang et al., 2002; Sonneveld and Nearing, 2003)
stimulated new interest for the estimation of the rain-
fall erosivity. However, to obtain an average measure
of long-term rainfall erosivity according to the RUSLE
methodology, requires high-resolution of rainfall mea-
surements and an accurate computation of each storm
erosivity index: a very onerous procedure. Historical
information on high-resolution measurements of rain-
fall in Italy is documented from 1994 for only a few,
tipping-bucket, electronic stations of the network RAN
(Rete Agrometeorologica Nazionale – Ministero per
le Politiche Agricole e Forestali). In such situations,