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Arid Land Geography ›› 2025, Vol. 48 ›› Issue (9): 1589-1599.doi: 10.12118/j.issn.1000-6060.2024.577

• Earth Surface Process • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Spatiotemporal characteristics and driving factors of soil wind erosion potential on the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau

WANG Xiaofei1,2(), PI Huawei1,2, LI Sisi1,2()   

  1. 1. Yinshanbeilu Grassland Eco-hydrology National Observation and Research Station, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing 100038, China
    2. Key Research Institute of Yellow River Civilization and Sustainable Development, Henan University, Kaifeng 475000, Henan, China
  • Received:2024-09-25 Revised:2025-01-10 Online:2025-09-25 Published:2025-09-17
  • Contact: LI Sisi E-mail:19861371771@163.com;liss.16b@igsnrr.ac.cn

Abstract:

Near-surface winds are crucial drivers of soil wind erosion. Thus, the temporal resolution of their data is key to predicting wind erosion models. Here, we analyzed the differences in the simulation and forecasting effectiveness of the revised wind erosion equation (RWEQ) model for wind erosion based on the temporal resolutions of wind-speed data and explored the spatial and temporal patterns of daily soil wind erosion potentials and their driving factors on the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau between 2010 and 2020. Our results revealed that: (1) The temporal resolution of wind-speed data significantly impacted the simulation and forecasting effectiveness of the RWEQ model, with hourly data enhancing the simulated wind factor and soil wind erosion potential by 76.95% and 44.02%, respectively, compared with daily data. (2) Enhanced soil wind erosion potential on the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau was generally was observed between 12:00 and 18:00, and significantly high spatial variation was observed between 00:00 and 08:00, with the daily variation exhibiting the following cyclical characteristic: “Slow decrease-steep increase-sharp decrease” (the largest and least daily variations were observed at 14:00 and 06:00, respectively, with the daily variations near the Qaidam Basin in subregion Ⅳ accounting for the least, exhibiting the weakest cyclic feature. (3) The Qinghai-Xizang Plateau represented a moderate wind erosion area, and its soil wind erosion potential fluctuated (displaying an increasing pattern from 2010 to 2020, with a multi-year average value of 3.754 kg·m-2), and spatially, the soil wind erosion potential in subregion IV accounted for the largest, although it decreased significantly (-0.522 kg·m-2·a-1, P<0.05). (4) Driver analyses revealed that wind-speed was the dominant driver of the spatial and temporal variability in the soil wind erosion potentials of the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, and those factors such as clay content, normalized difference vegetation index, elevation, and human footprints also had an important influence on its variability. The results of this study are of great significance for accurately assessing the risk of land degradation on the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, formulating desertification control strategies and ecological construction of wind and sand control.

Key words: hourly wind speed, revised wind erosion equation, wind erosion, wind and sand control, geodetector, Qinghai-Xizang Plateau