This project supported by:

Bioregion scale of Wind Erosion

SNAP-SHOT:

Long-term trends in wind erosion in Rangeland bioregions was described with:

n       Maps of changes in wind erosion levels in the Australian rangelands, 1992-2005 using the Dust Storm Index (DSI)

n       Temporal trends in DSI over the years 1960-2005

n       A new measure of DSI to infer possible land management influences upon wind erosion.

Read the report >>
McTainsh, G. H., Tews, E. K.,  Leys, J. F., and Bastin, G. (2007) Spatial and temporal trends in wind erosion of Australian rangelands during 1960 to 2005 using the Dust Storm Index (DSI) Final Report and User Guide to ACRIS, June 2007, Canberra, Australia, 25pp.

 

Mapping and measuring wind erosion

Wind erosion rates are expressed in terms of the Dust Storm Index (DSI). DSI statistics for rangeland bio regions were mapped and tabulated to assist the Australian Collaborative Rangelands Information System with reporting change for the period 1992 to 2005.

Two major developments occurred with this project:

n       the spatial scale was reduced to bioregions (IBRIM regions)

n       a new measure, rainfall-adjusted DSI, was used to partially deconstruct land management drivers of wind erosion frequency.

Temporal trends of wind erosion

The temporal trend of DSI for the rangelands as a whole shows a high level of episodicity which is driven mainly by drought.

By producing many DSI maps to cover the period 1960 to 2005, the condition of the land can be tracked over time. This method is highly informative as it illustrates trends over time, such as which decades were drought periods.  

 
A new measure in land management

A major rangeland monitoring challenge is to quantitatively discriminate the effects of land management from natural drivers of wind erosion.

The project introduced the rainfall-adjusted DSI. Wind erosion rates (expressed as DSI) are normalised for rainfall and expressed as DSI per 10mm of rainfall.

The new measure was compared to the standard DSI, for three sectors of the continent (west, centre and east) over the five time periods between 1960 and 2005.

The comparison demonstrated that poor land management in the Alice Springs region was highly likely to be responsible for the high wind erosion activity in this region during the 1960-1965 drought period. It also showed that the introduction of buffel grass in the 1970s played an important role in stabilising the rangelands.

Acknowledgements

Grant McTainsh, Kenn Tews, John Leys and Gary Bastin

Report citation

McTainsh, G. H., Tews, E. K.,  Leys, J. F., and Bastin, G. (2007) Spatial and temporal trends in wind erosion of Australian rangelands during 1960 to 2005 using the Dust Storm Index (DSI) Final Report and User Guide to ACRIS, June 2007, Canberra, Australia, 25pp. Read the report >>