Developing new state-of-the-art wet area maps for forest management
| Reference number | |
| Coordinator | Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet - Institutionen för skogens ekologi och skötsel |
| Funding from Vinnova | SEK 3 456 704 |
| Project duration | October 2014 - May 2021 |
| Status | Completed |
Important results from the project
The purpose of the project was to produce detailed soil moisture maps that can be used to reduce soil damage by heavy forest machinery and thereby reduce the leakage of heavy metals and nutrients to the Baltic Sea. Within the project, we have now released AI-developed high-resolution soil moisture maps for the entire country. The maps are of a higher quality than previous maps and they have been released as open geodata and are free for everyone to use. More information is available at www.slu.se/mfk
Expected long term effects
By developing a method for AI mapping of soil moisture, publishing the resulting high-resolution soil moisture maps for the whole of Sweden and practical guides for how the maps can be used in practical forestry, it will be easier to avoid soil damage on wet and moist soil in both forestry and other land use. As a result, the leakage of heavy metals and nutrients to the Baltic Sea can be reduced. To increase its impact, we have also spread the method to other countries around the Baltic Sea.
Approach and implementation
In the National forest inventory field data on soil moisture were registered on 20,000 plots in Sweden. This can be used as a “ground truth” on how soil moisture maps can be adapted regionally and locally to take into account that the topography, soil types and climate vary in the country and how it in turn controls soil moisture. The AI developed map has learned from this "ground truth" how to combine the information from 28 different maps to create an "optimal" soil moisture map that is adapted to regional and local conditions.