Soil & Water Res., 2026, 21(2):78-88 | DOI: 10.17221/17/2026-SWR

Spatial assessment of potential wind-driven soil loss using the Wind Erosion EquationOriginal Paper

Josef Kučera ORCID...1, Martin Blecha2, Jana Podhrázská ORCID...1,3, Jan Szturc ORCID...3, Hana Středová ORCID...3, Tomáš Středa ORCID...3, Petra Fukalová ORCID...3
1 Department of Soil Conservation Service, Research Institute for Soil and Water Conservation, Brno, Czech Republic
2 The State Land Office, Brno, Czech Republic
3 Department of Applied and Landscape Ecology, Faculty of AgriSciences of Mendel University in Brno, Brno, Czech Republic

Wind erosion represents a locally significant soil degradation process in the Czech Republic, particularly in intensively farmed lowland regions. While areas susceptible to wind erosion have been previously identified, spatially explicit quantification of potential soil loss expressed in t/ha per year at the national scale has so far been lacking. This study presents a comprehensive assessment of potential wind-driven soil loss across the Czech Republic using the Wind Erosion Equation (WEQ). Special attention is given to the soil erodibility index (I), which was derived from extensive laboratory analyses of soil aggregates and evaluated using multiple statistical representations (Q25, median, mean, Q75, and Q90). The resulting variants were used to quantify the sensitivity of modelled soil loss to erodibility assumptions and to compare exceedance of national (9 t/ha per year) and European (2 t/ha per year) reference limits. Results show substantial spatial variability in index I and associated soil loss estimates. Using the recommended median-based variant, approximately 10% of agricultural land exceeds the European reference limit, while only 0.8% exceeds the national threshold. Higher quantile scenarios (Q75 and Q90) identify erosion hotspots in dry lowland regions and are suitable for preventive planning. The presented outputs provide the first spatially consistent national framework for assessing potential wind erosion losses in the Czech Republic.

Keywords: agricultural land; preventive planning; soil erodibility; soil loss modelling; WEQ; wind erosion

Received: February 2, 2026; Accepted: March 27, 2026; Prepublished online: April 30, 2026; Published: May 5, 2026  Show citation

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Kučera J, Blecha M, Podhrázská J, Szturc J, Středová H, Středa T, Fukalová P. Spatial assessment of potential wind-driven soil loss using the Wind Erosion Equation. Soil and Water Research. 2026;21(2):78-88. doi: 10.17221/17/2026-SWR.
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