Rainfall Erosivity Variability for Penang Island

Abstract

Rainfall erosivity considers the rainfall amount and its intensity. This is an important parameter for soil erosion risk assessment under future land use and climate change. Comparisons of all climatic parameters show that rainfall is directly involved in the loss of soil quality during torrential rain. The effect of rainfall erosivity in Northern part of Malaysia was considered for two stations, Bukit Berapit and Air Itam. Monthly as well as annual rainfall was obtained from the Department of Drainage and Irrigation, Malaysia for thirty years (1983- 2012). Trends analysis of the rainfall data were obtained for 30 years that shows trends for mean annual rainfall. This was conducted using Mann-Kendall trend analysis and Sen’s slope tests. Trend analysis shows that there is negative significant difference in mean annual rainfall for the studied period for Air Itam. The Fournier indexes were used to determine the effect of extreme rainfall events towards soil erosivity. Bukit Berapit recorded 3.33% cases of severe impact using Fournier index and 13.33% cases of high impact using modified Fournier index. The result shows that there is a relationship rainfall trends and soil erosivity.