Sensitivity analysis of EUROSEM using Monte Carlo simulation II::the effect of rills and rock fragments

A sensitivity analysis of the surface and catchment characteristics in the European soil erosion model (EUROSEM) was carried out with special emphasis on rills and rock fragment cover. The analysis focused on the use of Monte Carlo simulation but was supplemented by a simple sensitivity analysis where input variables were increased and decreased by 10%. The study showed that rock fragments have a significant effect upon the static output parameters of total runoff, peak flow rate, total soil loss and peak sediment discharge, but with a high coefficient of variation. The same applied to the average hydrographs and sedigraphs although the peak of the graphs was associated with a low coefficient of variation. On average, however, the model was able to simulate the effect of rock fragment cover quite well. The sensitivity analysis through the Monte Carlo simulation showed that the model is particularly sensitive to changes in parameters describing rills and the length of the plane when no rock fragments are simulated but that the model also is sensitive to changes in the fraction of non-erodible material and interrill slope when rock fragments were embedded in the topsoil. For rock fragments resting on the surface, changes in parameter values did not affect model output significantly. The simple sensitivity analysis supported the findings from the Monte Carlo simulation and illustrates the importance when choosing input parameters to describe both rills and rock fragment cover when modelling with EUROSEM

Promoting global watershed management towards rural communities: the May Zeg-zeg initiativeLength: pp.192-195

Watershed managementRural development

Simulation and experimental verification of W-band finite frequency selective surfaces on infinite background with 3D full wave solver NSPWMLFMA

We present the design, processing and testing of a W-band finite by infinite and a finite by finite Grounded Frequency Selective Surfaces (FSSs) on infinite background. The 3D full wave solver Nondirective Stable Plane Wave Multilevel Fast Multipole Algorithm (NSPWMLFMA) is used to simulate the FSSs. As NSPWMLFMA solver improves the complexity matrix-vector product in an iterative solver from O(N(2)) to O(N log N) which enables the solver to simulate finite arrays with faster execution time and manageable memory requirements. The simulation results were verified by comparing them with the experimental results. The comparisons demonstrate the accuracy of the NSPWMLFMA solver. We fabricated the corresponding FSS arrays on quartz substrate with photolithographic etching techniques and characterized the vector S-parameters with a free space Millimeter Wave Vector Network Analyzer (MVNA)

How do root and soil characteristics affect the erosion-reducing potential of plant species?

Plant roots can be very effective in stabilizing the soil against concentrated flow erosion. So far, most research on the erosion-reducing potential of plant roots was conducted on loamy soils. However susceptible to incisive erosion processes, at present, no research exists on the effectiveness of plant roots in reducing concentrated flow erosion rates in sandy soils. Therefore, the prime objective of this study was to assess the erosion-reducing potential of both fibrous and tap roots in sandy soils. Furthermore, we investigated potential effects of root diameter, soil texture and dry soil bulk density on the erosion-reducing potential of plant roots. Therefore, flume experiments conducted on sandy soils (this study) were compared with those on sandy loam and silt loam soils (using the same experimental set up). Results showed that plant roots were very efficient in reducing concentrated flow erosion rates in sandy soils compared to root-free bare soils. Furthermore, our results confirmed that fibrous roots were more effective compared to (thick) tap roots. Dry soil bulk density and soil texture also played a significant role. As they were both related to soil cohesion, the results of this study suggested that the effectiveness of plant roots in controlling concentrated flow erosion rates depended on the apparent soil cohesion. The nature of this soil type effect depended on the root-system type: fine root systems were most effective in non-cohesive soils while tap root systems were most effective in cohesive soils. For soils permeated with a given amount of fibrous roots, an increase of soil bulk density seemed to hamper the effectiveness of roots to further increase soil cohesion and reduce erosion rates. In soils reinforced by tap root systems, the erosion-reducing power of the roots depended on sand content: the higher the percentage of sand, the smaller the erosion-reducing effect for a given amount of roots. This was attributed to more pronounced vortex erosion around the thicker tap roots in non-cohesive soils, increasing soil erosion rates. The results presented in this study could support practitioners to assess the likely erosion-reducing effects of plant root systems based on both root and soil characteristics