Wind erosion is crucial for assessing regional ecosystem services and sustainable development. The agro-pastoral ecotone of northern China (APEC) is a typical region undergoing wind erosion and soil degradation. In this study, the National Wind Erosion Survey Model of China, the Integrated Wind Erosion Modeling System, and the regional versions of the Revised Wind Erosion Equation and Wind Erosion Prediction System were used to evaluate the regional potential wind erosion of the APEC during 2000 and 2012. The results demonstrated that the potential wind erosion predicted by the four models was significantly related to the observed wind erosion collected from published literature, but the observed data were generally smaller than the predicted values. The magnitudes of average potential wind erosion were different, while the spatial pattern and temporal trend of annual potential wind erosion were similar for different wind erosion models. Wind speed, soil moisture and vegetation coverage were the dominant factors affecting regional wind erosion estimation. These results highlight that it is necessary to comprehensively calibrate and validate the selected wind erosion models. A long-term standard wind erosion monitoring network is urgently required. This study can serve as a useful reference for improving wind erosion models.

Potential wind erosion; Wind erosion model; Calibration; Validation