Many factors influence the amount of wind erosion that occurs.
Two critical factors are the percent of vegetation cover and the type of surface soils. Using satellite digital multispectral data, a simple model has been developed that allows an image to be generated that emphasizes areas with low vegetation density and high reflectance soils. In arid and semi-arid environments the soils most vulnerable to wind erosion usually have low vegetation cover and bright reflectance. At this stage, the bright reflectance aspect is mostly an empirical observation and a more scientifically based explanation, such as the relationship of soil brightness to gain size and soil type, has not been examined yet. An image is generated using this model that shows areas where these two conditions occur together.