Resumen:
Study region: Target area of this study are the main agricultural production zones of Austria. Most
important croplands cover the flat to pre-alpine areas concentrated in the north, east, and
southeast of Austria.
Study focus: The novelty of our study is the spatiotemporal assessment of rainfall characteristics
that drive erosivity at the event level as well as the identification of erosive rainfall distribution
patterns within the events. Our assessment approach allows the definition of both typical and
extreme erosivity. Long-term and high temporal resolution rainfall datasets were used to apply a
clustering approach, seasonal and spatial analyses, and rainfall distributions assessment (isopleths) of the identified rainfall types (clusters).
New hydrological insights for the region: Three dominant erosive event-types (clusters) were identified that strongly relate with Austria’s seasonality and complex topography. The most erosive
rainfall events (cluster C1) are characterized by a high intensity and short duration. C1 events
have the largest occurrence frequency in pre-alpine southern Austria and occur from May to
September. Unlike the less erosive and more evenly distributed event types (C2 and C3) the highly
erosive C1 events have a pronounced maximum rainfall intensity at the onset of the event
