نوع مقاله : مقاله پژوهشی
عنوان مقاله English
نویسندگان English
Given the adverse consequences of wind erosion, the lack of long-term, spatially gridded data in this field has hindered sustainable land management in arid and semi-arid regions, including Iran. Field-based methods for mapping wind erosion are time-consuming and costly. In the present study, the Revised Wind Erosion Equation (RWEQ) was integrated with the Google Earth Engine platform (GEE-RWEQ) to examine the spatiotemporal variations of soil wind erosion potential (SWEP) across Iran from 2014 to 2024. The results revealed a significant correlation between SWEP and aerosol optical depth (r = 0.59, p < 0.01), as well as the absorbing aerosol index (r = 0.64, p < 0.01). This correlation confirms the relative validity of the GEE-RWEQ model. According to the GEE-RWEQ model, wind erosion, with a mean annual rate of 4.75 t ha⁻¹, affects approximately 53% of the country's area. The largest wind erosion hotspot (exceeding 150 t ha⁻¹) was located in the southeast (including the Sistan plains and the areas surrounding Hamoun) and the northeast of the country. Summer was also identified as the most critical season in terms of wind erosion intensity. Overall, the combination of inherently high soil erodibility with erosive winds and sparse vegetation cover, particularly during the warm season, plays a key role in the formation of wind erosion hotspots in Iran. It can therefore be concluded that the GEE-RWEQ model provides an efficient, scalable, and cost-effective approach for national-scale wind erosion monitoring and for informing soil conservation policies in Iran. .
کلیدواژهها English