RESEARCHES ON THE PROBLEM OF WATER EROSION OF SOILS AT THE DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY, NATURE MANAGEMENT AND GEO-INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES: HISTORY AND CURRENT CHALLENGES
Authors: Svitlychnyi O. O. 
Published: July 2024

Problem Statement and Purpose. The problem of water soil erosion is an economic, environmental and complex geographical problem that is relevant for many countries of the world, including Ukraine. The study of water erosion, its mathematical modeling, the development of methods of calculation and forecasting, and the justification of the rational use of erosion-prone lands are one of the main directions of scientific research of the Department of Physical Geography, Nature Management and Geoinformation Technologies of Odesa I. I. Mechnikov National University for half a century. The purpose of the article is to characterize the research on the problem of water erosion of soils conducted at the Department from the beginning of the 1970s to the present time and to evaluate the obtained results from the standpoint of today. The object of research is the department’s erosion topics, the subject is the evolution of theoretical and applied research on the problem of water erosion at the Department during the 1970s‑2020s, the obtained results and modern challenges in the subject area under consideration.
Data & Methods. As the main materials for writing the article, the publications of the department’s employees on the problem of water erosion, including monographs, articles and conference presentations, reports on completed scientific research on state budget and farm contract topics, candidate and doctoral dissertations prepared at the department on erosion topics, as well as own work experience were used at the department on this problem, starting from the late 1970s. Problem-chronological, comparative-historical, comparative-geographical and analytical-synthetic research methods are used.
Results. Research on the problem of water erosion at the Department can be divided into three periods in time: 1) 1970s – 1980s, 2) 1990s and 3) 2000s. The first period is characterized by a combination of theoretical and field, including experimental, research with active participation in the implementation of various projects on assignment of legislative, design and economic institutions and organizations. Theoretical studies included, on the one hand, the substantiation, based on a systematic approach, of the new scientific discipline “Soil erosion Science”, and on the other, the development of a methodology for protecting soils from erosion using anti-erosion measures and their complexes. Much attention in these years was paid to the justification of complexes of anti-erosion measures within the framework of irrigation system projects in the Odessa, Nikolaev, Kirovograd regions and in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. In fact, during these years, Professor H. I. Shvebs, the organizer and scientific supervisor of these works, created a scientific school of theoretical and applied erosion science at the department. In the 1990s, research was focused on the theoretical generalization of the results of many years of research on water erosion, the improvement of the logical-mathematical model of surface-slope erosion and methods of assessing the main parameters of the model – the norms of the hydrometeorological factor of rain and spring soil washing, oriented to the capabilities of modern electronic computing machines. During this period, theoretical studies on the justification of the rational use of erosion-hazardous lands moved to the justification and development of soil protection systems of agriculture – first contour, then contour-ameliorative and landscape-ecological agriculture. On the basis of theoretical and field studies, the justification of the profile and spatially distributed versions of the physical-statistical mathematical model of soil washout-accumulation was performed. The results of the performed theoretical studies, methodical and applied developments were implemented in the computer system for optimizing the use of erosion-hazardous lands called "Agrolandscape". In the last two decades, research on erosion has been carried out in two main directions. The first direction is related to geoinformation technologies, since they are the tools that allow taking into account the spatial heterogeneity of all the main factors of the erosion process. The second direction is related to the forecast of changes in the intensity of soil erosion losses due to climate changes in the medium-term (2031– 2050) and long-term (2081–2100) prospects. Methods have been developed and a forecast of climate-related changes in soil erosion rates due to torrential activity in the warm half of the year and during spring snowmelt has been made. Currently, research on the problem of water erosion, which, due to climate change, as well as changes in land relations in the country, is becoming increasingly relevant, continues at the Department.