GIS and remote sensing integration for soil erosion assessment based on a RUSLE model in UPNM catchment

Soil erosion is a typical treat which is a main reason of land deterioration and one of the ultimate problems of the twenty-first century. Our purposed study is wanting to determine soil erosion in Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM) catchment by integrated Geographic Information System (GIS) and remote sensing (RS) utilizing the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) model. The necessary information parameters for the model were generated, such as soil erosivity (R), soil erodibility (K), slope lenght and steepness (LS), land cover (C), and practise of land management (P) by preparing varied input datasets in ArcGIS sofware. The final maps model was nearest sampled and the soil erosion rate has been calculated through applying algebra map in ArcGIS. Results present that the soil erosion over UPNM catchment is spatially varied within 0 to 99.1 t ha¯¹ yr¯¹. The rate soil erosion was lower as 2.3 t ha¯¹ yr¯¹ is estimated about 43% of the UPNM area that is the highest percent of soil erosion. Moreover, highest soil erosion that contributes is 43.5 and 99.1 t ha¯¹ yr¯¹. Overall, findings described for spatial pattern of soil eroded within UPNM catchment. Thus, the proposed integrated model is useful for explaining the erosion process within the river and land system of small area.