Mapping of peatlands in the forested landscape of Sweden using lidar-based terrain indices

Rimondini, Lukas; Gumbricht, Thomas; Ahlström, Anders; Hugelius, Gustaf

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3473-2023

Articles | Volume 15, issue 8

https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3473-2023

© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3473-2023

© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 15, issue 8

Data description paper

|

08 Aug 2023

Data description paper |

| 08 Aug 2023

Mapping of peatlands in the forested landscape of Sweden using lidar-based terrain indices

Lukas Rimondini, Thomas Gumbricht, Anders Ahlström, and Gustaf Hugelius

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Final revised paper (published on 08 Aug 2023)
Preprint (discussion started on 27 Mar 2023)

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

RC1:
'Comment on essd-2023-77', Anonymous Referee #1, 15 May 2023

The comment was uploaded in the form of a supplement: https://essd.copernicus.org/preprints/essd-2023-77/essd-2023-77-RC1-supplement.pdf

Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2023-77-RC1
- AC1: 'Reply on RC1', Lukas Rimondini, 29 May 2023
  
  Thank you for your valuable comments!
  We agree that the product should exclude Gotland and Öland. We propose that they should be masked in the next version and that the paragraph regarding the reliability of their mapping should be lightly revisioned and moved from "Discussions" to "Methods".
  We appreciate the minor corrections you pointed out.
  With regards,
  Rimondini et al.
  
  Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2023-77-AC1
RC2:
'Comment on essd-2023-77', Anonymous Referee #2, 26 May 2023

The manuscript describes an approach for countrywide peatland classification based on LiDAR-based terrain indices. For the classification, different ML methods were tested. For training and validation an extensive in-situ data set was used.
The paper is well written and easy to understand. The topic is interesting and important for the ongoing carbon stock estimation.
It is mentioned that the reference data has some spatial inaccuracy. Unfortunately, this topic is no longer covered in the discussion. It is strongly recommended to discuss the potential influence of the spatial inaccuracies on the derived result.
For the used formulas, please add unit information to all used variables.

Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2023-77-RC2
- AC2: 'Reply on RC2', Lukas Rimondini, 29 May 2023
  
  Thank you for your valuable comments.
  We agree that it would be of interested to further discuss how the spatial inaccuracy may affect the results. We will add text on this to the manuscript. In brief, we believe that the spatial inaccuracy of the soil data mostly concerns the SGU peat archive. We believe that it is of minor importance for our results, as the data from the SGU archive mostly includes points from the inner parts of peatlands with an O-layer depth > 100 cm and a relatively narrow value range in the geodata used as features. We have visually checked if this is the case by comparison against a land cover dataset (NMD2018), and conclude that ~100 points part from this pattern (mostly in the Stockholm area). This means that only a small portion of the points may lead to any important errors in the features. This will be reflected in the updated manuscript.
  We appreciate your comment on the inclusion of unit information for all variables in the formulas. We interpret that your comment concerns the DTW formula, and will add the information accordingly in the next version of the manuscript.
  With regards,
  Rimondini et al."
  
  Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2023-77-AC2

Peer review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision | EF: Editorial file upload

AR by Lukas Rimondini on behalf of the Authors (31 May 2023)

EF by Polina Shvedko (05 Jun 2023) Manuscript Author's response Author's tracked changes

ED: Publish subject to technical corrections (20 Jun 2023) by Alexander Gruber

AR by Lukas Rimondini on behalf of the Authors (22 Jun 2023) Author's response Manuscript

Short summary

Peatlands have historically sequestrated large amounts of carbon and contributed to atmospheric cooling. However, human activities and climate change may instead turn them into considerable carbon emitters. In this study, we produced high-quality maps showing the extent of peatlands in the forests of Sweden, one of the most peatland-dense countries in the world. The maps are publicly available and may be used to support work promoting sustainable peatland management and combat their degradation.