Global estimation of post-fire soil erosion

Wildfires affect land surface and post-fire geomorphological activity worldwide, increasing surface runoff and soil erosion. However, a global quantitative assessment considering the cumulative effect of several wildfires is still missing. Here we present a global assessment of post-fire soil erosion, considering cumulative wildfire-driven geomorphological changes over the last two decades. We estimate global trends of post-fire soil erosion using a global database on wildfire occurrence and fire severity, and the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) model together with the recovery of those burned landscapes by remote sensed data. Our results show that when considering multiple wildfire events, global…

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  Staatssekretariat für Bildung, Forschung und Innovation