A new splash cup to measure the kinetic energy of rainfall

Splash cups have long been successfully used for both the quantification of kinetic energy of rainfall and the detachability of soil particles by rainfall impact, the so‐called “splash erosion”. Measurements of kinetic energy, however, have been difficult to operate in the field especially in remote areas, on steep slopes, and in forests since boundary conditions need to be controlled precisely. This paper introduces a new splash cup based on Ellison's archetype that reliably and accurately measures kinetic energy as a function of sand loss under a large variety of conditions. The Tübingen splash cup (T splash cup) is relatively easy to operate under harsh field conditions, and it can be used in experimental designs with a large number of plots and replications at reasonably low costs. The cup is constructed from plastic laboratory flasks and plastic pipes from water‐supply equipments. The unit sand is held by a removable carrier system that can easily be replaced in the field. The splash cups have been calibrated in combination with a laser distrometer using a linear regression function with r² = 0.98. They measure kinetic energy over a wide range of rainfall intensities from 0.6 to 40 L m^–2 h^–1. Kinetic energy per area varies between 10 and 250 J m^–2. Two years of field test measurements in a subtropical forest ecosystem in China proved the reliability, durability, and usability of our new splash cups and allowed detecting differences in kinetic energy between different tree species and biodiversity levels.