A Hierarchical Multi-Level Method for Spatially Assessing Soil Erosion

ISBN-13: 9783838310237 / Angielski / Miękka / 2010 / 228 str.

Peter Okoth

Opis

Knowledge and practice are invoked to organise the landscape system into hierarchical levels through the use of aerial photo analysis, remote sensing, GIS and ground measurements. Systematic and hierarchical erosion processes are studied, assessed, measured and mapped. The conceptual model revolves around the modelling of hierarchical levels in a landscape system continuum based on erosion process magnitudes. Hierarchical construction of the landscape system allows an ordered organisation of the landscape components into superordinate and subordinate parts which correspond to erosion process time-scales and their corresponding spatial extents. The organization allows relevant observations and measurements to be made. The concept deviates from viewing the landscape as a linear plane where soil erosion processes occur presumably in a uniform manner, the method identifies individual landscape elements in each level of the landscape hierarchical construction where processes occur within comparable time scales, energy magnitudes and for which data interchange and modelling can take place. They are termed holons.

O autorze

Dr. Peter Okoth obtained his PhD in 2003 at the Wageningen University. Before this, he was a researcher at the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute. Dr. Okoth has many publications in journals, books and conference proceedings. Dr. Okoth is currently Senior Scientist at the Tropical Soil Biology and Fertility (TSBF) Institute of CIAT.