Identification of the relationship between temporally varying land surface temperature of winter season with the cover management factor of revised universal soil loss equation: A case study from upper Bakreshwar river basin

Identification of soil loss is a global concern as it increases the pollution and sedimentation in the concerned river or reservoir. Due to sedimentation not only the water storage capacity of the waterbody reduces but also the aqua life gets hampered. Several studies have been done on estimation of soil erosion using the revised universal soil loss equation (RUSLE). The RUSLE model shows the influence of impact of rain drop energy on top soil that causes erosion. The vegetation cover present on the top soil reduces the impact of raindrop energy and thus reduces the soil erosion. This factor is termed as cover management factor (C). From the detailed observation of satellite imageries of Bakreshwar watershed and Bakreshwar dam, lots of sedimentation has been observed in the Bakreshwar dam. In this study we have tried to identify the relationship (if any) between land surface temperature changes with the cover management factor of upper Bakreshwar river basin over a time of 30 years. The study area is located in Humid Subtropical climatic zone where the summer is hot and humid and winter is mild. So a change in temperature may cause a change in rainfall amount and in turn it may affect the cover management factor. From the study it has been observed that negative relationship prevails with temperature and cover management factor in the study area. As we are studying on winter data it prevails that the vegetation cover present in high surface temperature region than cold regions that can reduce the soil loss. This observation may help to future modification of cover management factor in RUSLE model by incorporating the land surface temperature in it