For improving the knowledge about rainfall erosivity in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the present study aimed to calculate the erosivity indices EI30 and KE > 25 using two methodologies to estimate the kinetic energy, average monthly erosivity indices based on pluviometric data and to obtain the isoerosivity maps for the State. EI30 and KE > 25 were obtained using rain gauge data of 14 stations located in Rio de Janeiro. Index estimates were also obtained by using correlations with the average monthly precipitation or the rainfall coefficient and spatialization via maps generated by ArcView 3.2a software. The results permit to conclude that the erosivity indices, for the different studied places, present expressive differences among themselves; there were no significant differences between the results obtained by the equations proposed for the calculation of rain kinetic energy and the estimate of rainfall erosivity using the average monthly precipitation gave better results compared to based on rainfall coefficient.
soil losses; water erosion; rain gauge data
