Author
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Skidmore, Edward |
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Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Proceedings Publication Acceptance Date: 10/20/2000 Publication Date: 10/20/2000 Citation: AGRONENVIRON 2000, 2nd International Symposium of New Technologies for Environmental Monitoring and Agro-Applications. Proceedings pp 216-221, Tekirdag, Turkey, October 2000. Interpretive Summary: Wind erosion continues as a serious problem in many parts of the world. It lowers air, soil, and water quality and threatens sustainability of agriculture. The U.S. Department of Agriculture appointed a team of scientists to develop a program to cope with the ravages of wind erosion. Strategies they proposed include: 1) determining the on-site and off-site eeffects of wind erosion; 2) increasing our understanding of wind erosion and related process; 3) predicting wind erosion and fugitive dust and their environmental impacts; 4) developing economically and environmentally viable practices, guidelines, and systems for controlling wind erosion and vugitive dust; and 5) effectively communicating wind erosion technology to stakeholders. Beneficiaries from this technology include: those making national resource inventories; conservation planners; those formulating policies relating to conservation reserve programs and global change; land managers; and in-effect, all global inhabitants. Technical Abstract: Wind erosion physically removes from the field the most fertile portion of soil. Some soil from damaged land enters suspension and becomes part of the atmospheric dustload. Dust obscures visibility, pollutes the air, causes automobile accidents,fouls machinery, and imperils animal and human health. Deposition of wind-blown sediments in drainage pathways and on water bodies ssignificantly deteriorates water quality. Strategies to mitigate these ravages of wind erosion include: 1) determining the on-site and off-site effects of wind erosion; 2) increasing our understanding of wind erosion and related process; 3)predicting wind erosion and fugitive dust and their environmental impacts; 4) developing economicially and environmentally viable practices, guidelines, and systems for controlling wind erosion and fugitive dust; and 5) effectively communicating wind erosion technology to stakeholders. Addressing these strategies will provide a reliable scientific basis for improving prediction of erosion and fugitive dust, developing site-specific control practices, and assessing damage and environmental impacts both on-site and off-site. |
