Tools for Planning Local Mitigation of Water-Driven Soil Erosion Resulting from Impacts of Future Climate Change

Due to the consequences of climate change impacts municipal planners and local administrations need to develop long-term strategies to protect soil bodies. For this purpose, practicable and free available tools are developed, that allow to estimate the erosivity of rainfall and discharge, considering the effects of land use changes and climate change impacts. This paper presents a stepwise estimation of water erosivity at agricultural areas as well as streams using the developed practicable tools step model of infiltration with calculation of direct flow and soil erosion (ero-SMINF), German universal soil loss equation integrated into a geographic information system (ABAGis), and stream erosion model (SEM). The tools are developed and tested at two catchments in mountainous areas in Central Germany, Vietzbach and Regenbeek. The results for the Vietzbach catchment, which is mostly affected by sheet erosion, indicated that most of the erosive events occur during summer. The most probable change in soil erosion resulting from climate change (RCP8.5) shows an increasing erosion of up to 16% comparing to the current state. In the Regenbeek catchment, where stream bed erosion is dominant, calculations with the SEM show for the same scenario, that erosion can be reduced mainly by widening the stream bed.