Spatial Distribution of Annual and Monthly Rainfall Erosivity in the Jaguarí River Basin

ABSTRACT The Jaguarí River Basin forms the main water supply sources for the São Paulo Metropolitan Region and other cities in the state. Since the kinetic energy of rainfall is the driving force of water erosion, the main cause of land and water degradation, we tested the hypothesis of correlation between the erosive potential of rainfall (erosivity) and geographical coordinates and altitude for the purpose of predicting the spatial and temporal distribution of the rainfall erosivity index (EI30) in the basin. An equation was used to estimate the (EI30) in accordance with the average monthl...