Meteorological conditions during extreme wind erosion events on heavy soils

Wind erosion in the Czech Republic conditions poses relatively a lot of danger, especially for the most fertile areas, where agricultural land is more vulnerable due to the large pieces of land and inappropriate crop rotation. This process causes damage to agriculture by loss of topsoil, fertilizers, seeds and crop damage as well as sedimentation in water recipients and on roads. It also has negative impacts on human health (airborne dust). Wind erosion is especially affected by climatic elements (wind, temperature, precipitation and evaporation etc.) and soil characteristics (soil type, content of erodible particles, soil moisture). Wind erosion affects mainly light and medium heavy soil. South Moravia is an example of the territories to which this rule does not apply. Although soils in the Carpathian flysch subsoil are mainly heavy, erosion has been causing damage here for many decades. Quite strong dust storms are not rare, especially at the end of winter and in early spring when the soil is not covered by vegetation.Notable cases of dust storms in the area were recorded in local chronicles, and then written in the summary publication by dr. Švehlík. Interest of this publication was focused on the most destructive cases of dust storms in Bílé Karpaty foothills. The aim was to study meteorological conditions during the period before and during the occurrence of dust storms in the area in detail and to find the relationship between weather and the intensity of wind erosion. The data of wind speed and direction, temperature, precipitation and snow were evaluated. In all cases the average daily air temperature and ground air temperature was over the freezing point or closely under it. The temperature generally increased before the dust storm occurrence and it often happened from negative to positive temperature and the soil probably defrosted. Snow cover was very small or there was no snow cover at all. In the course of April wind erosion occurrence there was no snow and the precipitation was inconsiderable. Soil at the station was mostly bare, dry and defrosted.

Abstract licence: CC BY-NC-ND

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