Land and Water Resources

Application of airborne LiDAR with fuzzy inference system in soil erosion monitoring on the Loess Plateau

  • QIU Chunxia ,
  • LIU Xiaohong ,
  • LI Dou ,
  • ZHANG Jiamiao ,
  • LI Pengfei
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  • 1. College of Geomatics, Xi’an University of Science and Technology, Xi’an 710054, Shaanxi, China
    2. Resource Management Department of Tangshan Normal University, Tangshan 063002, Hebei, China

Received date: 2023-10-09

  Revised date: 2024-05-18

  Online published: 2024-08-22

Abstract

The Loess Plateau is widely recognized as one of the most severely eroded regions, both within China and globally. Because of the limitations in monitoring technology, the study of soil erosion has primarily focused on areas of small-scale flow; indeed, large-scale erosion studies and field observations remain relatively scarce. The introduction of airborne LiDAR technology has opened new possibilities for high-precision, large-scale soil erosion research. However, LiDAR is impacted by complex terrain and introduces height uncertainty, which limits its capacity to effectively monitor soil erosion. This study analyzes the typical small watershed of Qiaogou in the hilly gully area of the Loess Plateau in China. To overcome the aforementioned challenges, LiDAR measurements were combined with a fuzzy inference system (FIS) to quantitatively analyze the spatial distribution of the DoD uncertainty and investigate the spatial distribution characteristics of soil erosion and sedimentation within the small watershed. The results show that: (1) Terrain shape and point cloud density greatly influence the DEM error generated by interpolation, with significantly smaller DoD uncertainty in flat terrain regions than in steep terrain regions; (2) By integrating known error sources into a stable error model, the FIS algorithm reduces subjective intervention and human error, avoiding error estimation on complex DEM surfaces and improving the accuracy of calculation results; (3) The sediment yield volume of the hillslope area is 9.21 m³, comprising 15.89% of the sediment yield volume of the slope gully system. Erosion in the gully slope area is severe, with a sediment yield volume of 48.76 m³, comprising 84.11% of the sediment yield volume of the slope gully system; hence, it is the main component of the sediment yield of the slope gully system. The trench bed area is primarily sedimentary. Ridge slopes and gully slopes have a larger contribution to sediment production, whereas the bottom of the gully is mainly a sediment-producing area. These research findings provide a new perspective on the development of soil erosion monitoring technology in the small watersheds of the Loess Plateau and offer a theoretical basis and reference for the implementation of effective soil and water conservation measures.

Cite this article

QIU Chunxia , LIU Xiaohong , LI Dou , ZHANG Jiamiao , LI Pengfei . Application of airborne LiDAR with fuzzy inference system in soil erosion monitoring on the Loess Plateau[J]. Arid Zone Research, 2024 , 41(8) : 1331 -1342 . DOI: 10.13866/j.azr.2024.08.07

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