『Abstract
In recent years there has been a focus on the impact of changing
climate on rainfall and storm patterns both globally and in Australia
with research directed to examine how the global hydrological
cycle will respond to climate change. This study investigates
the effect of different rainfall patterns on erosion and sediment
transport rates in a small study catchment in the Northern Territory,
Australia. There have been several studies of the effect of climate
change on rainfall patterns in the study area with projections
indicating an increase in storm activity. Therefore it is important
that the impact of this variability be assessed in terms of catchment
hydrology, geomorphology and sediment transport and erosion rates.
In this study a numerical model of erosion and deposition (CAESAR)
is used to assess several different rainfall scenarios over a
1000 year modelled period. The results show that at the end of
a 1000 year modelled period the simulated catchments are not geomorphologically
or hydrologically different from one another. The model results
reveal that increased rainfall amount and intensity increases
sediment transport rates but predicted annual sediment output
from the models was variable and non-linear but within the range
of measured field data foe the catchment and region. The study
provides a sensitivity analysis of both initial soil particle
size distribution used in the erosion model and rainfall on long-term
erosion rates and catchment sediment transport.
Keywords: Sediment transport; Hydrology; Geomorphology; Soil erosion
modelling; CAESAR; Climate change; Climate variability』
1. Introduction
2. Study site
3. The CAESAR landscape and erosion model
4. Model input parameters
4.1. Soil particle size and soil creep data
4.2. Catchment digital elevation model
4.3. Rainfall data
5. Methods and results
5.1. Catchment geomorphology
5.2. Erosion rates and patterns
6. Discussion
6.1. Catchment geomorphology
6.2. Erosion rates and patterns
7. Conclusion
Acknowledgments
References