Recently, in the Auerswald et al. (2015) comment on "Rainfall erosivity in Europe", 5 criticisms were addressed: i) the neglect of seasonal erosion indices, ii) the neglect of published studies and data, iii) the low temporal resolution of the data, especially of the maximumrain intensity, iv) the use of precipitation data instead of rain data and the subsequent deviation of the R-factor in Germany and Austria comparedwith previous studies, and v) the differences in considered time periods between countries. We reply as follows: (i) An evaluation of the seasonal erosion index at the European scale is, to our knowledge, not achievable at present with the available data but would be a future goal. Synchronous publication of the seasonal erosion index is notmandatory, specifically because seasonal soil loss ratios are not available at this scale to date. We are looking forward to the appropriate study by the authors of the comment,who assert that they have access to the required data. (ii) Wediscuss and evaluate relevant studies in our original work and in this reply; however,we cannot consider what is not available to the scientific community. (iii) The third point of critique was based on a misunderstanding by Auerswald et al. (2015), as we did indeed calculate the maximum intensity with the highest resolution of data available. (iv) The lowR-factor values in Germany and the higher values in Austria comparedwith previous studies are not due to the involvement of snowbut are rather due to a Pan-European interpolation. We argue that an interpolation across the borders of Austria creates a more reliable data set. (v)We agree that the use of a short time series or time series from different periods is generally a problem in all large-scale studies and requires improvement in the future. However, because this affects countrieswith a rather low variability of the R-factor in our study, we are confident that the overall results of the map are not biased. In conclusion, the Pan-European rainfall data compilation (REDES) was a great success and yielded data from 1541 stations with an average length of 17.1 years and a temporal resolution of < 60 min. However, a Pan- European data collection will never be complete without the help and supply of data from its users. Thus, we invite the authors of the comment to share their data in the open REDES to help build even better rainfall-erosivity maps at regional or European scales.
Panagos, P., Meusburger, K., Ballabio, C., Borrelli, P., Begueria, S., Klik, A., et al. (2015). Reply to the comment on "Rainfall erosivity in Europe" by Auerswald et al. SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT, 532, 853-857 [10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.05.020].
Reply to the comment on "Rainfall erosivity in Europe" by Auerswald et al
Borrelli P.Membro del Collaboration Group
;
2015-01-01
Abstract
Recently, in the Auerswald et al. (2015) comment on "Rainfall erosivity in Europe", 5 criticisms were addressed: i) the neglect of seasonal erosion indices, ii) the neglect of published studies and data, iii) the low temporal resolution of the data, especially of the maximumrain intensity, iv) the use of precipitation data instead of rain data and the subsequent deviation of the R-factor in Germany and Austria comparedwith previous studies, and v) the differences in considered time periods between countries. We reply as follows: (i) An evaluation of the seasonal erosion index at the European scale is, to our knowledge, not achievable at present with the available data but would be a future goal. Synchronous publication of the seasonal erosion index is notmandatory, specifically because seasonal soil loss ratios are not available at this scale to date. We are looking forward to the appropriate study by the authors of the comment,who assert that they have access to the required data. (ii) Wediscuss and evaluate relevant studies in our original work and in this reply; however,we cannot consider what is not available to the scientific community. (iii) The third point of critique was based on a misunderstanding by Auerswald et al. (2015), as we did indeed calculate the maximum intensity with the highest resolution of data available. (iv) The lowR-factor values in Germany and the higher values in Austria comparedwith previous studies are not due to the involvement of snowbut are rather due to a Pan-European interpolation. We argue that an interpolation across the borders of Austria creates a more reliable data set. (v)We agree that the use of a short time series or time series from different periods is generally a problem in all large-scale studies and requires improvement in the future. However, because this affects countrieswith a rather low variability of the R-factor in our study, we are confident that the overall results of the map are not biased. In conclusion, the Pan-European rainfall data compilation (REDES) was a great success and yielded data from 1541 stations with an average length of 17.1 years and a temporal resolution of < 60 min. However, a Pan- European data collection will never be complete without the help and supply of data from its users. Thus, we invite the authors of the comment to share their data in the open REDES to help build even better rainfall-erosivity maps at regional or European scales.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
