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. Water erosion in agricultural fields can reduce soil fertility and agricultural productivity. Despite the impact of water erosion on crops, it is typically neglected in global crop yield projections. Furthermore, previous efforts to quantify global water erosion have paid little attention to the effects of field management on the magnitude of water erosion. In this study, we analyse the robustness of simulated water erosion estimates in wheat and maize fields between the years 1980 to 2010 based on daily model outputs from a global gridded version of the Environmental Policy Integrated Climate (EPIC) crop model. Using the MUSS water erosion equation and country-specific and environmental indicators determining different intensities in tillage, residue handling and cover crops, we simulate global annual median and average water erosion rates of 6 t ha−1 and 19 t ha−1 and an annual soil removal of 7 Gt in global wheat and maize fields. A comparison of our simulation results with field data demonstrates an overlap of simulated and measured water erosion values for the majority of global cropland. Slope inclination and daily precipitation are key factors in determining the agreement between simulated and measured erosion values and are the most critical input parameters controlling all water erosion equations included in EPIC. The many differences between field management methods worldwide and the varying water erosion estimates from different equations add uncertainty to the simulation results. To reduce the uncertainties addressed here and to improve global water erosion estimates generally, more data on global field management and more field data from study sites representing the diversity of environmental conditions where crops are grown are necessary.

Uncertainties, sensitivities and robustness of simulated water erosion in an EPIC-based global gridded crop model