Title: Distribution of peatlands in Canada using National Forest Inventory forest structure and ancillary land cover data (2011)
Citation: Thompson, D. (2020). Distribution of peatlands in Canada using National Forest Inventory forest structure and ancillary land cover data (2011) [Data set]. Open Data Canada. https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/62d63169-7739-4515-9178-8f628c32a9d4
Study Site: Canada
Purpose: In this geospatial dataset, we produce a map primarily of forested and treed peatlands, those with more than 40 cm of peat accumulation and over 10% tree canopy cover.
Abstract: Organic soils in the boreal forest commonly store as much carbon as the vegetation above ground. While recent efforts through the National Forest Inventory has yielded new spatial datasets of forest structure across the vast area of Canada’s boreal forest, organic soils are poorly mapped. In this geospatial dataset, we produce a map primarily of forested and treed peatlands, those with more than 40 cm of peat accumulation and over 10% tree canopy cover. National Forest Inventory ground plots were used to identify the range of forest structure that corresponds to the presence of over 40 cm of peat soils. Areas containing that range of forest cover were identified using the National Forest Inventory k-NN forest structure maps and assigned a probability (0-100% as integer) of being a forested or treed peatland according to a statistical model. While this mapping product captures the distribution of forested and treed peatlands at a 250 m resolution, open, completely treeless peatlands are not fully captured by this mapping product as forest cover information was used to create the maps.
Supplemental Information Summary: Note that this mapping product does not fully capture all permafrost peatland features covered by open canopy spruce woodland with lichen ground cover. Nor are treeless peatlands near the northern treeline captured in the training data, resulting in unknown mapping quality in those regions.
Research:
Further Info: Thompson, D. K., Simpson, B. N., Whitman, E., Barber, Q. E., & Parisien, M.-A. (2019). Peatland Hydrological Dynamics as A Driver of Landscape Connectivity and Fire Activity in the Boreal Plain of Canada. Forests, 10(7), 534. https://doi.org/10.3390/f10070534
Status: Complete
Keywords:
mapping,
peat properties,
management,
Geographical coordinates: North: 83.15, South: 41.909 East: -52.619 West: -141.010
Bounding Temporal Extent: Start Date: 2011-09-30, End
Date: 2011-09-30
