In contrast, our research
found that for Ultisols in a humid climate, a combination of antecedent
precipitation and weekly total precipitation accumulation together can
explain about 50% of variability in the erosion data. This finding suggests
that discrete precipitation events alone may not cause erosion, however
antecedent precipitation along with successive precipitation events can
saturate the soil, reduce the shear strength, and cause erosion. The addition
of antecedent precipitation in the erosion prediction model increased
the effectiveness of gully erosion estimates to some extent,
but 50% of the variability in the erosion data remained unexplained.
This further indicates the need to employ an appropriate temporal scale