A revised wind erosion sampler on arable Mollisols in Northeast China

Wind erosion observation reflects the wind-blown sand movement pattern. Sand sampler is an essential instrument for wind erosion observation. However, most of the previous studies were carried out in desert or sandy land, and little information was involved in arable Mollisols. Therefore, based on the BSNE (Big Spring Number Eight) sand sampler, the 18-mesh aperture sieve in the wind blocking structure was changed into the louvered windshield baffle, which was located at the bottom of the sand box. The holding and collection capacity between BSNE and rBSNE (Revised Spring Number Eight) sand samplers was compared and analyzed by simulation experiments. The rBSNE sand sampler was then applied to the field wind erosion observation. The results showed that compared with BSNE sand sampler, rBSNE sand sampler decreased the loss rate of small soil particles. When the wind speed was lower than 20 m·s⁻¹, the loss rate of <0.25 mm soil particles significantly decreased by 74.3% to 87.1%; and when the wind speed reached 20 m·s⁻¹, the loss rate of all soil particles significantly decreased by 46.9% to 74.3%. In addition, compared with BSNE sand sampler, rBSNE sand sampler was beneficial for the collection of small soil particles. When the wind speed was lower than 20 m·s⁻¹, the collection of wind erosion with <0.5 mm soil particles significantly increased by 9.0% to 44.0%; and when the wind speed reached 20 m·s⁻¹, the collection of wind erosion with all soil particles significantly increased by 7.3% to 34.4%. Furthermore, wind erosion rate decreased exponentially with the increasing height during the wind erosion observation period. This indicates that the rBSNE sand sampler can be applied to the wind erosion observation on arable Mollisols in Northeast China.