The original project definition focused on understanding gully development in the Mediterranean region. The candidate that initiated the project terminated their commitment, and the project objectives were redefined towards ephemeral gully erosion and microtopography on Norwegian agricultural soils.
The project has two main goals. The first is the assessment and application of Terrestrial Laser Scanning and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for the measurement of soil microtopography (features with dimensions in the order of magniture of centimetres, or less). The second objective is to investigate the appropriateness of terrain indices for the study of sediment movement through agricultural headwater catchments.
The common hypothesis for both objectives is that measurements of soil surface topography can be linked to erosion processes (detachment, transport and sedimentation).