Please note that this session was withdrawn and is no longer available in the respective programme. This withdrawal might have been the result of a merge with another session.

SSS2.3
Remote sensing techniques for assessing soil erosion
Convener: Miguel A. Campo-Bescós | Co-conveners: Irene Marzolff, Saskia Foerster

Soil-erosion studies comprise a large range of scopes and objects of investigation with different levels of spatial and temporal scales. Thus, for example, analyses may range from absence-presence inventories of erosion features in large areas, such as badlands, to detailed studies of rill and ephemeral gullies; or focus on the assessment of the overall expansion of permanent gullies and their evolution; or characterize headcut migration; or identify downstream deposition areas after intense sheet/rill erosion; etc. A complete analysis of the phenomenon will also require the determination of the factors that control the erosive processes, such as topography, land use and climate. Remote sensing is increasingly being used, to address the above mentioned issues, providing highly valuable information both on surface reflection and surface heights. In fact, the continuous improvement of the techniques based on remote sensing allows to deal with the study of a large range of erosive processes at varying spatial and temporal scales. More sensitive and accurate sensors are available every day. In addition, the frequency of the observations is rapidly increasing and new statistical analysis techniques are increasingly used. Furthermore, the integration of varying remote-sensing techniques and information sources has become more and more frequent. Thus, there is a need for a specific analysis about the ways and potential of using remote-sensing techniques to assess soil erosion. The main objective of the session is to present and discuss the most recent progress in this field.