Comparative analysis of rainfall characteristics for two distinct research plots

In natural environments, rainfall causes soil erosion, which has a significant impact on the agricultural production and the ecological conditions of the streams. Due to different types of vegetation, their unique characteristics and seasonality, there are still a lot of open scientific questions about how rainfall interception process influences the rainfall erosivity and soil erosion. With the aim of improving knowledge about rainfall interception by different vegetation and its impact on the rainfall erosivity, an interdisciplinary and international research team (Faculty of Civil and Geodetic Engineering at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenian Forestry Institute and Technical University of Vienna) work together in the research project entitled “Evaluation of the impact of rainfall interception on soil erosion”. In the scope of the project, drop size distribution measurements above and below selected plants will be conducted in combination with classical measurements of rainfall partitioning. The measurements are ongoing in the small urban park in Ljubljana, Slovenia and in the experimental catchment with mainly agricultural land use in Lower Austria (The Hydrological Open Air Laboratory HOAL in Petzenkirchen). To evaluate the differences in rainfall characteristics for the two research plots, a comparative analysis on rainfall event properties such as rainfall amount, duration and intensity, size and velocity distribution of raindrops is performed. The aim of the presentation is to introduce the project and presents the first comparison of the rainfall characteristics at research plots in Austria and Slovenia.

Acknowledgments: This contribution is part of the ongoing research project entitled “Evaluation of the impact of rainfall interception on soil erosion” supported by the Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency (project J2-4489) and the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) I 6254-N.