REDES 2.0: A pan-European rainfall erosivity dataset showing intensifying erosivity trends
Journal
CATENA
ISSN
0341-8162
Date Issued
October 2026
Author(s)
Bezak, Nejc
Borrelli, Pasquale
Cesarini, Luigi
Müller-Thomy, Hannes
Matthews, Francis
Saggau, Philipp
Kaffas, Konstantinos
Liakos, Leonidas
Brettin, Jana
Ballabio, Cristiano
Petan, Sašo
Valiukas, Donatas
Giannaklis, Christos-Panagiotis
Lagouvardos, Kostas
Gomes, Goncalo
Salamon, Peter
Beguería, Santiago
Lakatos, Mónika
Perčec Tadić, Melita
Lončar-Petrinjak, Ivan
Chervenkov, Hristo
Abstract
Rainfall erosivity (defined as R-factor of the Revised Universal Soil Loss equation (RUSLE)), a key driver of soil erosion by water, varies greatly across Europe due to differences in climate regimes, precipitation patterns, storm intensities, and their frequencies. Updated and harmonized rainfall erosivity datasets are therefore important to provide robust input data for soil erosion models and to account for changes in climate that occurred in recent decades. This study presents REDES 2.0, the new pan-European Rainfall Erosivity Database, based on high-frequency sub-hourly and hourly rainfall data from 9138 locations across Europe, which corresponds to an average station density of 1.9 stations per 1000 km2. REDES 2.0 represents an order-of-magnitude increase in data availability compared to the 1675 stations included in REDES (henceforth referred to as REDES 1.0). All the collected high-frequency rainfall data was converted to 30-min temporal resolution, either using data aggregation or rainfall disaggregation based on a multiplicative cascade model. Rainfall erosivity was subsequently computed following the RUSLE methodology. As a result, over 2.4 million erosive rainfall events were identified, predominantly covering the 2010–2025 period, with average station data length of 15 years and with an average of around 265 erosive events per station. Spatial patterns of annual R-factor values show pronounced differences across Europe, with the highest R-factor values concentrated in the Mediterranean and Alpine regions, while northern, eastern and central Europe exhibit comparatively lower values. REDES 1.0 and 2.0 overlap at 1062 locations (approximately 17% of REDES 2.0 and 69% of REDES 1.0) across Europe, where mean annual R-factor values increased from 792 MJ·mm·ha−1·h−1·yr−1 in REDES 1.0 to 861 MJ·mm·ha−1·h−1·yr−1 in REDES 2.0. This corresponds to around 9% increase in the rainfall erosivity in the last decades. Moreover, around 65% of stations included in REDES 2.0 exhibit a positive trend in annual R-factor for the 2010–2024 period. The standard error of the annual R-factor for REDES 2.0 was on average around 18% for stations included in REDES 2.0. REDES 2.0 reduces uncertainties and errors in rainfall erosivity in Europe, covers previously unsampled areas, increases temporal coverage, provides trends, and includes many extreme events.
Affiliation
Technische Universitat Braunschweig
UNISYSTEMS
Slovenian Environment Agency
Lithuanian Hydrometeorological Service
WTP Westpole
Estacion Experimental de Aula Dei (EEAD), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
HungaroMet Hungarian Meteorological Service
Croatian Meteorological and Hydrological Service
National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology
Funding
N. Bezak acknowledges support from the Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency (ARIS) through grant P2–0180 and from the Joint Research Center (CT-EX2021D421841–101). P. Borrelli received funding from the European Union's Horizon Europe project Soil Biodiversity and Functionality of Mediterranean Olive Groves (Soil O-live), grant agreement ID 101091255.
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