INTERMITTENT WIND EROSION ACTIVITY IN BURNED SEMIARID GRASSLAND

On March 11, 2001, fire swept across a grass field west of Lubbock, Texas transforming an otherwise stable grassland into a highly erodible surface. The next day, researchers from the Lubbock office of the USDA-Agricultural Research Service installed a saltation sampler and a piezoelectric saltation sensor to record temporal variations in sediment transport due to wind. In addition, a 2-m tall meteorological tower was installed to monitor surface winds and other climatic factors that influence the wind erosion process and a dust sampling system was installed downwind of the site to monitor ambient dust levels. A continuous record of wind erosion activity was obtained at the site over a 4-month period as the surface recovered from a highly erodible condition to a fully vegetated and stable surface.