Advances in soil information

Information on soil characteristics is needed in making decisions in agriculture, forestry and environmental management, in land-use planning, and in greenhouse gas inventory. The existing soil data are underutilized in examining soil characteristics and processes. This project aims to develop and test a set of methods that will allow to produce countrywide data and information on soils quickly and efficiently. A special emphasis will be on information on peat soils.1) We will create a high-spatial-resolution peatland database for the entire country which will distinguish mire site types, nutrient status and current land use. 2) We will produce open up-to-date geospatial data on carbon storage and peat characteristics for different land use types: cultivated peat fields, peat extraction areas, undrained mires and forestry drained peatlands. 3) We will develop more accurate and comprehensive methods to monitor changes in carbon stocks and in greenhouse gas fluxes in peatlands. Regarding mineral soils, 4) we will estimate long term changes in forest soil carbon and publish these data. These data will also be used in developing process-based soil carbon models. More accurate soil data will allow development of sustainable and climate smart land-use practices. We will also suggest a validated method for calculating greenhouse gas emissions of forestry drained peatlands. More comprehensive soil data and more representative models for greenhouse gas inventory will improve the accuracy and reliability of the national greenhouse gas inventory.