Increased soil erosion, pressure on agricultural land, and climate change highlight the need for new management methods to mitigate soil loss. Management strategies should utilize comparable data sets of long‐term soil erosion monitoring across multiple environments. Adaptive soil erosion management in regions with intense precipitation requires an understanding of inter‐annual variability in sediment yield (SY) at regional scales. Here, a novel approach is proposed for analysing regional SY. We aimed to (i) investigate factors controlling inter‐ and intra‐annual SY, (ii) combine seasonality and time compression analyses to explore SY variability and (iii) discuss management implications for different Mediterranean environments. Continuous SY measurements totalling 104 years for eight small catchments were used to describe SY variability, which ranged from 0 to 271 t/ha/year and 0 to 116 t/ha/month. Maximum SY occurs in spring to summer for catchments with oceanic climates, while semi‐arid or dry summer climates experience SY minimums. We identified three time compression patterns at each time scale. Time compression was most intense for catchments with minimum SY in spring to summer. Low time compression was linked to very high soil loss, low run‐off and sediment production thresholds, and high connectivity. Reforestation, grassland and terracing changed SY magnitudes and time compression, but failed to reduce SY for large storm events. Periods with a high probability of high SY were identified using a combination of intra‐annual SY variability, seasonality analysis, and time compression analysis. Focusing management practices on monthly flow events, which account for the majority of SY, will optimise returns in Mediterranean catchments.
There are few computer models that can simulate winter freeze-thaw conditions and spring snowmelt hydrology for agricultural tile drained lands. DRAINMOD, which is used widely to simulate tile drainage flows, has not been extensively applied during colder periods in eastern Canada. This study analyzes the performance of DRAINMOD for surface runoff and subsurface drainage predictions in southern Quebec during spring snowmelt. The model was tested with five years of field data. DRAINMOD was found to be adequate in predicting spring snowmelt hydrology, except for subsurface drainage at one site. It was found that soil characteristics had a major influence on model performance.Résumé : Il existe peu de modèles informatiques qui simulent le gel/dégel d'hiver et l'hydrologie de la fonte des neiges printanière pour les terres agricoles ayant un réseau de drainage par canalisation souterraine. Le modèle DRAINMOD, largement utilisé pour simuler les écoulements des réseaux de drainage par canalisation souterraine, n'a pas été utilisé de manière extensive durant les périodes froides dans l'Est du Canada. La présente étude analyse le rendement de DRAINMOD à prédire de drainage sous la surface et l'écoulement de surface dans le Sud du Québec durant la fonte des neiges printanière. Le modèle a été validé en utilisant cinq années de données de terrain. DRAINMOD s'est révélé être adéquat pour prédire l'hydrologie de la fonte des neiges printanière, sauf pour le drainage sous la surface à un seul site. Les caractéristiques des sols influencent grandement le rendement du modèle. [Traduit par la Rédaction]
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