Step-By-Step Protocol to Apply the 137Cs Resampling Approach to Assess Soil Erosion During Chosen Time Periods

This chapter provides a step-by-step protocol to apply the 137Cs resampling approach to assess soil erosion during chosen time periods, which is a final result of these guidelines. It is based on the results of Chapter  3 , but the steps presented in that chapter are adjusted for an individual case of the Caratozzolo Study Site presented in Chapter  3 . These steps were generalised to form of a universally applicable protocol of 137Cs resampling procedure comprising of 7 steps but with two modifications, one for the traditional reference approach (TRA) and the second for the spatial reference approach (SRA). These steps are following: (1) Selecting and assessing study site and existing 137Cs data, (2) Selecting the methodical approach (TRA versus SRA), (3) Second sampling campaign of selected study site, (4) Sample preparation and gamma spectroscopic analyses, (5) Determining the reference value (recalculating the earlier reference value for radioactive decay or new reference sampling), (6) Conversion of 137Cs inventories from second sampling to soil redistribution rates, (7) Calculating soil redistribution rates for the time window since the first until the second sampling). These steps are characterized in a graphical scheme presenting also the two versions of this approach aimed on TRA and SRA. Finally, this chapter provides a discussion on the further research and proposes some possible objectives of next 137Cs resampling studies.