Abstract

In this paper, we present an approach that uses environmental data on local surface vulnerability obtained from remote sensing to assess the potential soil erosion. A potential soil erosion characteristic index PEI is proposed, and its value derived using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique, based on coded environmental information stored in minimum polygons that tile the erodible area under consideration. The approach is applied to a case study of the Yellow River basin, North China, where soil erosion is serious. To represent different grades of potential soil erosion, the range of PEI is divided into six levels according to standard grades of erosion intensity. Comparisons are given between potential soil erosion and surveyed soil erosion zoning maps for the Yellow River basin at the end of the 1980s.

Keywords: potential assessment, soil erosion; characteristic index, minimum polygon, AHP, Yellow River basin