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Temporary Dataset Download: Soil erosion by wind

Dataset Access Expires on

15-August-2026

Notifications

  1. The data provided has been prepared for use by internal research activities in the Joint Reseach Centre(JRC) Ispra.
  2. The data were developed for research purposes in the SOIL Action of the Joint Research Centre. The JRC does not accept any liability whatsoever for any error, missing data or omission in the data, or for any loss or damage arising from its use. The JRC agrees to provide the data free of charge but is not bound to justify the content and values contained in the databases.
  3. The permission to use the data specified above is granted on condition that, under NO CIRCUMSTANCES are these data passed to third parties. They can be used for any purpose, including commercial gain.
  4. The user agrees to: 
       a) Make proper reference to the source of the data when disseminating the results to which this agreement relates; 
       b) Participate in the verification of the data (e.g. by noting and reporting any errors or omissions discovered to the JRC).

Data

The data download page provides access to four datasets: 

1. Soil loss by wind erosion in European agricultural soils (RWEQ) ;

2. Index of Land Susceptibility to Wind Erosion (ILSWE 1981-2010);

3. Wind-erodible fraction of soil (EF) (Size: 50MB , Raster Format) ;

4. Agriculture Field Parameters (Size: 38 MB, Shape file)

 

Description of data

Title: Soil loss by wind erosion in European agricultural soils (Quantitative assessment)
Description: GIS-RWEQ is  a simplified GIS-based application of the RWEQ model (ARS-USDA). It follows a spatially distributed approach based on a grid structure, running in R and Python scripts. The model scheme is designed to describe the daily soil loss potential at regional or larger scale. A complete description of the methodology and the application in Europe is described in the paper:  Borrelli, P., Lugato, E., Montanarella, L., & Panagos, P. (2016). A New Assessment of Soil Loss Due to Wind Erosion in European Agricultural Soils Using a Quantitative Spatially Distributed Modelling Approach. Land Degradation & Development, in Press, DOI: 10.1002/ldr.2588 
Spatial coverage: 28 Member States of the European Union  
Pixel size: c.a 1Km 
Projection: ETRS89 Lambert Azimuthal Equal Area 
Temporal coverage: from January 2001 to December 2010

Title: Land susceptibility to wind erosion
Description: Wind erosion is a complex geomorphic process governed by a large number of variables. Field-scale models such as the Wind Erosion Prediction System (WEPS—Wagner, 1996) employ up to some tens of parameters to predict soil loss. A preliminary pan-European assessment of land susceptibility to wind erosion calls for a simplified and more practical approach. Therefore, a limited number of key parameters which can express the complex interactions between the variables controlling wind erosion should be considered. The ILSWE is based on the combination of the most influential parameters, i.e. climate (wind, rainfall and evaporation), soil characteristics (sand, silt, clay, CaCO3, organic matter, water-retention capacity and soil moisture) and land use (land use, percent of vegetation cover and landscape roughness). The spatial and temporal variability of factors are appropriately defined through Geographic Information System (GIS) analyses. Harmonised dataset and a unified methodology were employed to suit the pan- European scale and avoid generating misleading findings that could result from heterogeneous input data. The selected soil erosion parameters were conceptually divided into three groups, namely (i) Climate Erosivity, (ii) Soil Erodibility and (iii) Vegetation Cover and Landscape Roughness. Sensitivity to the contributing group of factors was calculated using the fuzzy logic technique, which allows the sensitivity range of each factor in Europe to be unambiguously defined. A complete description of the methodology and the application in Europe is described in the paper: 
Borrelli, P., Panagos, P., Ballabio, C., Lugato, E., Weynants, M. Montanarella, L (2014). Towards a pan-European assessment of land susceptibility to wind erosion. Land Degradation & Development, In Press. DOI: 10.1002/ldr.2318 
Spatial coverage: 28 Member States of the European Union and 8 other European States (three European Union candidate countries (Montenegro, Serbia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia), three potential European Union candidate countries (i.e. Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo), Norway and Switzerland). 
Pixel size: 500m 
Projection: ETRS89 Lambert Azimuthal Equal Area 
Temporal coverage:1981-2010

If you need the data on Number of Erosive days , please contact directly esdac@jrc.ec.europa.eu

 

Title: Wind erosion susceptibility of European soils
Description: The wind-erodible fraction of soil (EF) is one of the key parameters for estimating the susceptibility of soil to wind erosion.The predication of the spatial distribution of the EF and a soil surface crust index drew on a series of related but independent covariates, using a digital soil mapping approach. A complete description of the methodology and the application in Europe is described in the paper: Borrelli, P., Ballabio, C., Panagos, P., Montanarella, L. (2014). Wind erosion susceptibility of European soils. Geoderma, 232, 471-478.
Spatial coverage: 25 Member States of the European Union where data available (All EU member states except Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia). 
Pixel size: 500m 
Projection: ETRS89 Lambert Azimuthal Equal Area 
Temporal coverage:2014


 

Agriculture Field Parameters data: The dataset contains averaged Field Size, Field Orientation, Field Length, Average Number of Images, Percentage of Large Fields and Length to Width Ratios for the EU 27 Member states and Switzerland, aggregated to NUTS region. The analysis is based on approximately 400 satellite images from the IMAGE2000 archive. Each image was segmented using a fractal net evolution approach, which is a region merging technique (Baatz and Schape, 2000). 
- Field Size Area (ha) : The average field size for the reporting unit for wind erosion fields 
- Field Direction (in degrees) : The average direction of the field – by assuming that usually the longer side of the field is the main working direction
-Length to Witdh Ratio: The average Length to Width Ratio on the agricultural fields
- Field Length (Km): The average Length on the agricultural fields
- Average Number of Images: The average number of images which have been averaged for this reporting unit 
- Percentage Agricultural Wind Erosion Susceptible fields/ non susceptible field : The percentage of agricultural area which could be clearly indentified with the applied method 

 

References:

  • Borrelli, P., Lugato, E., Montanarella, L., & Panagos, P. (2016). A New Assessment of Soil Loss Due to Wind Erosion in European Agricultural Soils Using a Quantitative Spatially Distributed Modelling Approach. Land Degradation & Development, in Press, DOI: 10.1002/ldr.2588
  • Borrelli, P., Panagos, P., Ballabio, C., Lugato, E., Weynants, M. Montanarella, L. 2016. Towards a pan-European assessment of land susceptibility to wind erosion. Land Degradation & Development,27(4): 1093-1105, DOI: 10.1002/ldr.2318. 
  • Borrelli, P., Ballabio, C., Panagos, P., Montanarella, L. (2014). Wind erosion susceptibility of European soils. Geoderma, 232, 471-478 
  1. Borrelli, P., Lugato, E., Montanarella, L., Panagos, P. (2016). A New Assessment of Soil Loss Due to Wind Erosion in European Agricultural Soils Using a Quantitative Spatially Distributed Modelling Approach. Land Degradation & Development, in Press, DOI: 10.1002/ldr.2588 
  2. Borrelli, P., Panagos, P., Ballabio, C., Lugato, E., Weynants, M. Montanarella, L 2016. Towards a pan-European assessment of land susceptibility to wind erosion. Land Degradation & Development,27(4): 1093-1105, DOI: 10.1002/ldr.2318.
  3. Borrelli, P., Panagos, P., Montanarella, L. 2015. New Insights into the Geography and Modelling of Wind Erosion in the European Agricultural Land. Application of a Spatially Explicit Indicator of Land Susceptibility to Wind Erosion. Sustainability 2015, 7(7), 8823-8836; doi:10.3390/su7078823
  4. Borrelli, P., Ballabio, C., Panagos, P., Montanarella, L. (2014). Wind erosion susceptibility of European soils. Geoderma, 232, 471-478

 

Joint Research Centre - European Soil Data Centre (ESDAC)
ID 131861
Date - Time Fri, 07/31/2026 - 21:43
Name of User Tina Lešnik
Organization Faculty of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Type of Organization Research Organization
-- Other
E-mail tina.lesnik5@um.si
Purpose The requested datasets will be used to assess wind erosion susceptibility in agricultural landscapes, identify priority areas for windbreak establishment, evaluate hedgerow protection, and support spatial and economic analyses of mitigation measures.
Notes

When making reference to the ESDAC

  • Panagos, P., Van Liedekerke, M., Borrelli, P., Köninger, J., Ballabio, C., Orgiazzi, A., Lugato, E., Liakos, L., Hervas, J., Jones, A.  Montanarella, L. 2022. European Soil Data Centre 2.0: Soil data and knowledge in support of the EU policies. European Journal of Soil Science, 73(6), e13315. DOI: 10.1111/ejss.13315
  • Panagos P., Van Liedekerke M., Jones A., Montanarella L., “European Soil Data Centre: Response to European policy support and public data requirements”; (2012) Land Use Policy, 29 (2), pp. 329-338. doi:10.1016/j.landusepol.2011.07.003
  • European Soil Data Centre (ESDAC), esdac.jrc.ec.europa.eu, European Commission, Joint Research Centre