Long-term monitoring of the forest ecosystems (MYT)

Finland has participated in the International Forest Monitoring Programme since 1995. Luke is responsible for data management and national and international cooperation in forest monitoring.

Monitoring of the forest ecosystems provides long-term data on forests and scientific information on the effects of air pollution, climate change and other stress factors on forest ecosystems. 

Forest monitoring builds on the UNECE's ICP Forests Level II and ICP Integrated monitoring (IM) programmes, which were established to monitor the effects of the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution. In addition, MYT implements the EU Emission Ceilings Directive (NECD) obligation to monitor the effects of air pollutants in the forest environment.

The monitoring sites are located in commercially managed forests and protected forests all over Finland. The main tree species, north-south variation and nutrient variation in habitats have been taken into account when selecting the monitoring sites. The monitoring sites form an important research infrastructure that can be used in a variety of ways, both for monitoring the state of the forests and for empirical research and modelling, for example on the forest effects of climate change and forest carbon sequestration.

Measurements included in the monitoring programme:

• deposition, open space and forest (precipitation volume and chemistry monthly)
• soil solution (chemistry monthly during the growing season)
• tree stand litterfall (quantity and chemistry monthly during the growing season)
• crown condition (defoliation, discoloration, diseases and pests annually)
• foliage (chemistry every two years)
• tree growth (every five years)
• understory vegetation (every five years)
• soil (chemistry and soil properties every 10 years) 
• tree diamater measurements using dendrometer (continuous)
• soil moisture and temperature (continuous)
• meteorology (continuous, weather data from the nearest meteorological station)

Only vegetation, soil and depostion measurements are taken from open mire sites.

The monitoring sites have three different plots where the measurements are concentrated. For example, deposition monitoring in a forest stand, soil solution and litterfall are in the same plot. They range in size from 30 x 40 metres to 40 x 40 metres. The plots are surrounded by a zone where, among other things, tree health observations are made. All plots are surrounded by a buffer zone of about 5 metres to prevent any disturbance in the plot.

The monitoring data are an important source of reference and background information and are exported annually to the Luke and ICP Forests databases. The monitoring data and network are used, for example, for the validation of carbon cycle models in cooperation with Luke's statutory greenhouse gas calculation. 

International cooperation is very active in the ICP Forests, ICP Integrated Monitoring, eLTER, and LYNET networks. In Europe, there are currently around 500 ICP Forests Level II monitoring sites.

The UN-ECE ICP Forests Programme Manual is used for the implementation of the monitoring. In addition, ICP Forests measures a number of indicators that are included in the list of criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management in the Forest Europe process. The Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) of the Arctic Council also uses ICP Forests data.