Global Rainfall Erosivity: R factor (JRC, 2017)

Unit: [MJ mm ha-1 h-1 yr-1]. The exposure of the Earth’s surface to the energetic input of rainfall is one of the key factors controlling water erosion. While water erosion is identified as the most serious cause of soil degradation globally, global patterns of rainfall erosivity remain poorly quantified and estimates have large uncertainties. Rainfall erosivity is one of the input layers when calculating the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) model, which is the most frequently used model for soil erosion risk estimation. The new global erosivity map is a critical input to global and continental assessments of soil erosion by water, flood risk and natural hazard prevention. Current global estimates of soil erosion by water are very uncertain, ranging over one order of magnitude (from around 20 to over 200 Pg per year). More accurate global predictions of rill and interrill soil erosion rates can only be achieved when the rainfall erosivity factor is thoroughly computed. This global erosivity map is publicly available and can be used by other research groups to perform national, continental and global soil erosion modelling. This map provides a complete rainfall erosivity dataset for the whole World based on 3,625 precipitation stations and around 60,000 years of rainfall records at high temporal resolution (1 to 60 minutes). Gaussian Process Regression(GPR) model was used to interpolate the rainfall erosivity values of single stations and to generate the R-factor map. Pixel size: 30 arc-seconds (~1 km at the Equator). Measurement Unit: MJ mm ha-1 h-1 yr-1 Temporal coverage: 30-40 years - Predominant in the last decade: 2000 - 2010 Citation: Panagos P., Borrelli P., Meusburger K., Yu B., Klik A., Lim K.J., Yang J.E, Ni J., Miao C., Chattopadhyay N., Sadeghi S.H., Hazbavi Z., Zabihi M., Larionov G.A., Krasnov S.F., Garobets A., Levi Y., Erpul G., Birkel C., Hoyos N., Naipal V., Oliveira P.T.S., Bonilla C.A., Meddi M., Nel W., Dashti H., Boni M., Diodato N., Van Oost K., Nearing M.A., Ballabio C., 2017. Global rainfall erosivity assessment based on high-temporal resolution rainfall records. Scientific Reports 7: 4175. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-04282-8 [10.1038/s41598-017-04282-8].