Sand-filled splash cups were used to study the erosivity of rainfall and throughfall in the humid subtropics of southeast China. Our results showed that the splash cup measurements yielded precise and reproducible results both under open field conditions and under forest vegetation. The splash cups were exposed to forest stands of different age and to selected species in the Gutianshan National Nature Reserve (GNNR). This dataset contains the measurements performed under selected trees.

Species specific measurements: Sets of five splash cups were positioned in a pentagon under target trees. The splash cups consist of a PE flask to which a carrier system has been attached. In this carrier system a cup filled with a unit sand of 125-200 µm particle size is inserted. At the bottom of the cup a silk cover prevents loss of sand and guarantees free drainage of water from the cup to the carrier and vice versa. Cup and PE flask are hydraulically connected by a cotton wick to ensure constant moisture content throughout the time of measuring, as the initial water content is a crucial point in splash erosion studies (Poesen and Savat 1981). Additionally, vents in the carrier system ensure that the pressure arising from the insertion of the cup does not lead to loss of sand. The vent in the PE flask guarantees the free drainage of excess water which may accumulate during high intensity rainfall events.

The Gutianshan National Nature Reserve (NNR) is located in the western part of Zhejiang Province (29º8'18" – 29º17'29" N, 118º2'14" – 118º11'12" E, Fig. 1). The Gutianshan NNR has an area of approximately 81 km2 and was initially established as a National Forest Reserve in 1975 and became a National Nature Reserve in 2001. The NNR comprises a large portion of broad-leaved forests of advanced successional stages (Hu & Yu 2008), which have not been managed since the beginning of the 1990ies, as well as young successional stages and conifer plantations, mainly of Cunninghamia lanceolata and Pinus massoniana. --- The vegetation is composed of different types of subtropical evergreen and mixed broad-leaved forests (Yu et al. 2001). Most of the stands are secondary forests, evidenced by maximum tree ages of 180 years, by agricultural terraces in almost all plots and by the presence of charcoal in almost all soil profiles. Around the Gutianshan NRR extensive deforestation has occurred during the Great Leap Forward in the 1950s, as in most parts of Southeast China. However, due to prevailing steep slopes, the Gutianshan area was only marginally usable for agricultural activities, and thus an exceptionally intact forest cover has been preserved. --- The climate at Gutianshan NNR is warm and temperate with a short dry season in November and December and with warm summers (Fig. 2). The climatic conditions are characteristic for the subtropics with an annual average temperature of 15.1°C, January minimum temperatures of -6.8°C, July maximum temperatures of 38.1°C and an accumulated temperature sum (≥ 5°C) of 5221.5 degree days.

Tree species names are given in the raw data

Rain event characteristics come from a linked dataset: "Rainfall for rain events within splashcups measurements for kinetic energy of raindrops".