Modelling the effect of soil and water conservation on discharge and
sediment yield in the upper Blue Nile basin, Ethiopia
This study used land use data, soil data, and a digital elevation
model of 5 m resolution from the Advanced Land Observing
Satellite-2 (ALOS-2, “DAICHI-2”) operated by the Japan Aerospace
Exploration Agency (JAXA). The soil map and data on physical and
chemical soil characteristics were adapted from a soil survey carried
out by the WLRC (Belay, 2014). The soil map contains 19 soil
types belonging to soil hydrologic group A, B, or C. The initial soil
erodibility factor (USLE_K) used for the Universal Soil Loss Equation
(USLE) (Wischmeier & Smith, 1978) to calculate soil erosion with
SWAT was derived from a study by Hurni (1985) showing a relation
between soil colour and erodibility.