『Abstract
　Soil erosion is a growing problem in southern Greece and particularly in the island of Crete, the biggest Greek island with great agricultural activity. soil erosion not only decreases agricultural productivity, but also reduces the water availability. In the current study, an effort to predict potential annual soil loss has been conducted. For the prediction, the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) has been adopted in a Geographical Information System framework. The RUSLE factors were calculated (in the form of raster layers) for the nine major watersheds which cover the northern part of the Chania Prefecture. The R-factor was calculated from monthly and annual precipitation data. The K-factor was estimated using soil maps available from the Soil Geographical Data Base of Europe at a scale of 1:1,000,000. The LS-factor was calculated from a 30-m digital elevation model. The C-factor was calculated using Remote Sensing techniques. The P-factor in absence of data was set to 1. The results show that an extended part of the area is undergoing severe erosion. The mean annual soil loss is predicted up to 〜200 (t/ha year^-1) for some watersheds showing extended erosion and demanding the attention of local administrators.

Keywords: Soil erosion; RUSLE; GIS; Remote sensing; Western Crete』

Introduction
Study site
Materials and methods
　Soil erosion prediction by RUSLE
　Data
　Rainfall erosivity factor (R)
　R-factor estimation
　Soil erodibility factor (K)
　Slope-length (L) and slope steepness (S) factors
　Cover management factor (C)
Results and discussion
　Rainfall erosivity factor
　Soil erodibility factor
　LS factor
　Cover management factor
　Soil loss
Conclusions
Acknowledgments
References