Effect of source-varying input data on erosion potential model performance

Abstract

This paper examines the performance of the Erosion Potential Method (EPM or Gavrilović) and the model response to input data variations caused by choosing different sources of information for the same parameter. The research presented addresses the input data uncertainty via an analysis of the two model input parameters (the soil protection coefficient and the soil erodibility coefficient). The parameter uncertainty analysis is performed following two different approaches: uncertainty analyses of both the selected sample size and the entire population are conducted for an erosion assessment case study of the Dubračina River catchment, Croatia. The analysis indicated that, when changing the data source, significant changes in the model outcome values can occur (up to 47% for this case study). Future method modifications should consider the mitigation of these two parameters by potentially making structural changes in the model and therefore moderating the effect.