Adaptation of RUSLE model to agricultural conditions of Finland

The Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) is a widely used model for estimation of soil erosion. In Finland it is applied for various purposes, such as targeting environmental measures for fields and monitoring their effectiveness. However, the RUSLE application in Finland has limitations. These include limited consideration of winter conditions, limited and outdated rainfall erosivity estimation, lack of regionalization in crop and field management parameterization, and inadequate representation of open ditches in fields. These limitations inevitably lead to uncertainties and inaccuracies in model predictions. This project aims to adapt RUSLE to Finnish agricultural conditions by further developing RUSLE factors and evaluating the model against erosion measurements from experimental fields. The specific objectives are to develop a new R factor that better accounts for snow and freezing conditions, improve the representation of soil freezing in the K factor, incorporate open ditches in the LS factor, and develop regionally parameterized C factors for crops and field management that reflect variations in the growing season's timing.