Modelling carbon uptake in Nordic forest landscapes using remote sensing

Boreal forests and peatlands store over 30% of the global terrestrial carbon in their vegetation and soil. but changing climate can compromise the current carbon stock. Rising air temperatures, changing precipitation patterns and increased risk of natural disturbances can impact the ability of the boreal ecosystems to absorb and store carbon, reducing their effectiveness as carbon sinks. Reliable estimates of carbon fluxes between these ecosystems and the atmosphere are crucial for understanding the ecosystem response to climate change. This thesis focuses on developing remote sensing-based modelsof the vegetation carbon uptake i.e. gross primary production (GPP) in Nordic forests and peatlands, and upscaling the estimates from sites to landscape and regional levels.The results demonstrate that spectral vegetation indices EVI2 and PPI can capture the seasonal dynamics of GPP well. In general, other environmental variables that further helped to improve the results were air temperature, photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), and vapour pressure deficit(VPD) that expresses atmospheric demand for water. Another finding was that the spatial resolution of the satellite instrument had less influence on the accuracy of GPP estimates than the model formulation and selection of the input data. The result suggested that vegetation productivity can be monitored at various scales with high accuracy using satellite remote sensing data. Fine-scaleestimates are beneficial when monitoring individual forest stands or spatially heterogeneous ecosystems like peatlands.Various model formulations were tested to estimate GPP with remotely sensed data. The site-specific calibration gave more accurate results, but the single parameter set per ecosystem type was more applicable for upscaling GPP for a larger area. In addition, we found that PPI performed well andprovided a useful tool for estimating GPP at local and regional scales. Despite the good agreement with the eddy covariance-derived GPP, the models could be further improved to capture the spatial heterogeneity between the sites by adding e.g. soil moisture data. Finally, we applied a PPI-based model to estimate annual GPP in Sweden’s forests and peatlands with a 10-meters spatial resolution. This thesis highlights that satellite remote sensing has a great potential for monitoring variations changes in vegetation carbon uptake in Nordic forest and peatland ecosystems

Kasviplanktonin kevätkukinnan indikaattorit

Kasviplanktonin määrä ja tuotanto on tärkeä tekijä Itämeren rehevöitymisen arvioinnissa. Kasviplankton reagoi nopeasti, jos veden ravinteiden (erityisesti typen ja fosforin) määrät tai suhteet muuttuvat. Kasviplanktonin kevätkukinta on merkittävä vuosittainen tapahtuma Itämerellä. Kevätkukinnan aikana saavutetaan kasviplanktonin kasvukauden huippu, ja suuri osa vuotuisesta tuotannosta tapahtuu kevätkukinnan aikana. Kevätkukinnan aikana kasviplanktonin määrä vedessä vaihtelee suuresti ajallisesti ja paikallisesti. Kevätkukinnan seurannassa saavutetaan paras ajallinen ja paikallinen kattavuus käyttämällä kaukokartoitusinstrumentteja ja Alg@line-mittauksia. Tässä tutkimuksessa kehitettiin ja testattiin kevätkukinnan indikaattoreita Suomenlahdella ja Saaristomerellä. Kevätkukinnan indikaattoreita ovat kukinnan alku, kesto, huippu eli suurin pitoisuus, huipun ajankohta ja kukinnan intensiteetti. Indikaattorit määriteltiin aluekohtaisesti a-klorofyllipitoisuuden aikasarjoista vuosina 2003–2011. Aikasarjat laskettiin Envisat-MERIS -instrumentin ja Alg@line-laivojen havainnoista. Tulokset osoittivat, että MERIS- ja Alg@line-aineistot soveltuvat kasviplanktonin kevätkukinnan indikaattorien määrittämiseen. Pilvisyys tai jääolot voivat ajoittain estää a-klorofyllin havaitsemisen MERIS-instrumentillla, jolloin Alg@line-mittauksia voidaan käyttää täydentämään havaintoja niillä alueilla, joiden läpi Alg@line-laivat kulkevat. Tuloksien mukaan kasviplanktonin indikaattorit, erityisesti intensiteetti, vaihtelevat eri alueilla paljon. Myös vuosien väliset erot ovat huomattavia. Kahdella tutkimusalueella MERIS- ja Alg@line-aineistoista laskettuja intensiteetti-indeksejä verrattiin toisiinsa ja pyrittiin määrittämään indeksin trendi kullakin alueella. Nousevia trendejä ei havaittu, mikä on Itämeren rehevöitymisen ja ekologisen tilan kannalta hyvä. Kasviplanktonin kevätkukinnan indikaattoreita voidaan tulevaisuudessa käyttää operatiivisesti. MERIS-instrumentin tilalla on mahdollista käyttää muita kaukokartoitusinstrumentteja, jotka soveltuvat a-klorofyllin seurantaan. Tulevan Sentinel 3A -satelliitin mukan oleva OLCI-instrumentti soveltuu parhaiten kevätkukinnan seurantaan Itämerellä. Ennen Sentinel 3A -satelliitin laukaisua käytössä ovat esimerkiksi Aqua MODIS -ja Suomi NPP VIIRS -instrumentit. Alg@line-aineistoa voidaan yhdistää kaukokartoitusaineistoihin, jolloin saadaan mahdollisimman suuri ajallinen ja paikallinen kattavuus

Substrate limitation of a habitat-forming genus Fucus under different water clarity scenarios in the northern Baltic Sea

Canopy-forming macroalgae living on rocky bottoms provide valuable ecosystem services but long-term eutrophication has narrowed their distribution and depth zonation in the Baltic Sea. The spatial distribution of macroalgae is shaped by many factors, such as light, salinity, nutrients and wave exposure. In addition, the lack of suitable hard substrates limits the distribution of algae in many areas. Analysing how the spatial distribution of macroalgae is modified by changes in environmental conditions is relevant for focusing management actions. To quantify the resultant distribution under various environmental and management scenarios, both current environmental conditions and substrate limitation need to be considered. We estimated the potential distribution area of bladderwrack Fucus spp. under 11 water transparency scenarios in 9 Finnish sea areas differing in morphology and eutrophication status. The prevailing averaged long-term water transparency conditions were interpreted from satellite images. Ten scenarios were calculated based on hypothetical changes in euphotic depth from −50% to +50% of the present. Species distribution modelling was used to assess the potential distribution areas of Fucus. In addition, to quantify the influence of substrate limitation, we estimated the average substrate limitation with two correction methods: (i) by using field data from underwater videos within the predicted distribution areas and (ii) by using a habitat model representing the distribution of reefs (i.e. rocky bottoms) in the study area. The decrease of euphotic depth by 50% from the present level narrowed the distribution area of Fucus by 24–53% in the Southwestern archipelago, 55–70% in the Gulf of Finland, 37–66% in the Bothnian Sea and 59–100% in Kvarken. An increase in euphotic depth significantly broadened the spatial distribution of Fucus. Decreasing share of suitable hard substrate along depth gradient however hinders broadening of the distribution area. If all areas were suitable for growth, a 50% increase in euphotic depth would expand the distribution area by 124–803%, depending on area. When only suitable substrates were taken into account, this percentage remained at 9–270%. We conclude that substrate limitation needs to be taken into account when estimating macroalgal species distribution in the marine environment. We show how this can be done also when comprehensive bottom substrate maps are not available. Our results are valuable when setting the targets for environmental management plans, and for balancing the local management measures in a cost effective manner. Highlights • Benthic light conditions affect the distribution of canopy-forming macroalgae Fucus. • Also substrate limits the distribution and zonation of Fucus. • Scenario modelling and substrate correction methods were utilised. • Sea areas differ in substrate composition which affects potential distribution area. • Substrate limitation is more pronounced in inner than in outer archipelago

Upscaling Northern Peatland CO2 Fluxes Using Satellite Remote Sensing Data

Peatlands play an important role in the global carbon cycle as they contain a large soil carbon stock. However, current climate change could potentially shift peatlands from being carbon sinks to carbon sources. Remote sensing methods provide an opportunity to monitor carbon dioxide (CO2) exchange in peatland ecosystems at large scales under these changing conditions. In this study, we developed empirical models of the CO2 balance (net ecosystem exchange, NEE), gross primary production (GPP), and ecosystem respiration (ER) that could be used for upscaling CO2 fluxes with remotely sensed data. Two to three years of eddy covariance (EC) data from five peatlands in Sweden and Finland were compared to modelled NEE, GPP and ER based on vegetation indices from 10 m resolution Sentinel-2 MSI and land surface temperature from 1 km resolution MODIS data. To ensure a precise match between the EC data and the Sentinel-2 observations, a footprint model was applied to derive footprint-weighted daily means of the vegetation indices. Average model parameters for all sites were acquired with a leave-one-out-cross-validation procedure. Both the GPP and the ER models gave high agreement with the EC-derived fluxes (R-2 = 0.70 and 0.56, NRMSE = 14% and 15%, respectively). The performance of the NEE model was weaker (average R-2 = 0.36 and NRMSE = 13%). Our findings demonstrate that using optical and thermal satellite sensor data is a feasible method for upscaling the GPP and ER of northern boreal peatlands, although further studies are needed to investigate the sources of the unexplained spatial and temporal variation of the CO2 fluxes.Peer reviewe

State-of-the Art Study in Citizen Observatories : Technological Trends, Development Challenges and Research Avenues

Citizen science has rapidly spread in the last decades around the world as a genuine interactive and inclusive opportunity for engaging citizens in the continuous collection of data relevant for science, governance, businesses, communal living and individual concerns. The present–day abundance of ICT technologies has caused the proliferation of two data collection methods in this field: participatory (user-centric) and opportunistic (device-centric). As a result, citizen observatories have become big data systems, with large scale volumes of data that come and go to millions of users.; about any social or environmental phenomenon (e.g. transit, air or weather) and comes in different formats (e.g. XML, Plain Text, CSV) and through different platforms (e.g. websites, mobile apps, sensor networks). This study reviewed the last 10 years of citizen science literature through a systematic literature review. This study identified 108 citizen observatories, which were deeply studied and clustered to identify global and European trends in environmental applications, practices, engagement techniques and technology uses. Challenges and recommendations from the literature in the field were classified to understand the common present and future path for the discipline. Furthermore, a survey and interviews were applied to stakeholders in Finland to gain broader understanding of the field country–wise. This study, provides the first comprehensive insight of the broad scale of contemporary ICT enabled citizen observatories in social and environmental dimensions

Long Intergenic Noncoding RNA MIAT as a Regulator of Human Th17 Cell Differentiation

T helper 17 (Th17) cells protect against fungal and bacterial infections and are implicated in autoimmunity. Several long intergenic noncoding RNAs (lincRNA) are induced during Th17 differentiation, however, their contribution to Th17 differentiation is poorly understood. We aimed to characterize the function of the lincRNA Myocardial Infarction Associated Transcript (MIAT) during early human Th17 cell differentiation. We found MIAT to be upregulated early after induction of human Th17 cell differentiation along with an increase in the chromatin accessibility at the gene locus. STAT3, a key regulator of Th17 differentiation, directly bound to the MIAT promoter and induced its expression during the early stages of Th17 cell differentiation. MIAT resides in the nucleus and regulates the expression of several key Th17 genes, including IL17A, IL17F, CCR6 and CXCL13, possibly by altering the chromatin accessibility of key loci, including IL17A locus. Further, MIAT regulates the expression of protein kinase C alpha (PKC alpha), an upstream regulator of IL17A. A reanalysis of published single-cell RNA-seq data showed that MIAT was expressed in T cells from the synovium of RA patients. Our results demonstrate that MIAT contributes to human Th17 differentiation by upregulating several genes implicated in Th17 differentiation. High MIAT expression in T cells of RA patient synovia suggests a possible role of MIAT in Th17 mediated autoimmune pathologies

Rahanpesusääntelyn muutosten vaikutukset yhdistysten ja tiekuntien tuntemisvelvollisuuteen pankkisektorilla : Case: Suomenselän Osuuspankki

Rahanpesun ja terrorismin rahoittamisen estävä lainsäädäntö on kokenut paljon muutoksia viime vuosina. Euroopan unionin vuonna 2015 julkaistu neljäs rahanpesudirektiivi sekä vuonna 2018 julkaistu viides rahanpesudirektiivi ovat toimineet pohjana useisiin Suomessa toteutettuihin rahanpesun ja terrorismin rahoittamisen estämiseen liittyvien lakien muutoksiin. Euroopan unionin sääntelyn pohjalta toteutettu Suomen kansallisen lain uudistaminen on vaikuttanut merkittävästi rahanpesun ja terrorismin rahoittamisen valvontaan. Pankit ovat ilmoitusvelvollisia rahanpesun ja terrorismin rahoittamisen estävässä toiminnassa. Pankkien on täytynyt sopeutua rahanpesun ja terrorismin rahoittamisen estävän sääntelyn muutoksiin sekä omaksua uusia toimenpiteitä sääntelyn toteuttamiseksi lakien vaatimalla tasolla. Opinnäytetyön tutkimusosuuden tarkoituksena oli muodostaa selvitys rahanpesusääntelyn muutosten vaikutuksista yhdistysten ja tiekuntien tuntemisvelvollisuuden toteuttamiseen pankkisektorilla, sillä toimeksiantajapankki halusi selvittää lakimuutosten todellisia käytännön vaikutuksia omassa toiminnassaan. Opinnäytetyön tekijä suoritti tutkimusosuuden osana käytännön työtä toimeksiantajapankissa. Tutkimuksen toteuttaminen sisälsi kohderyhmäasiakkaiden kontaktoimisen ja tuntemistietojen päivityksen asiakkaan antamien tietojen sekä virallisten rekisteritietojen pohjalta. Rahanpesusääntelyn muutosten vaikutuksia yhdistyksiin ja tiekuntiin pyrittiin tutkimusosuudessa selvittämään vertaamalla nykypäivän toimenpiteitä aikaisempiin käytäntöihin. Opinnäytetyön tutkimusosuutta pohjustettiin teoriaosuudessa perehtymällä rahanpesun ja terrorismin rahoittamisen määritelmiin, vaiheisiin ja yhteiskunnalliseen merkitykseen. Lisäksi keskityttiin rahanpesun ja terrorismin rahoittamisen lainsäädäntöön sekä EU:n ja Suomen kansallisella tasolla ja asiakkaan tuntemisvelvollisuuden määräyksiin Suomen lain ja Finanssivalvonnan määräysten pohjalta.Legislation of preventing money laundering and terrorist financing has experienced many changes lately both international and national level. The European Union’s fourth money laundering directive published in 2015 and fifth money laundering directive published 2018 have forced to make changes to Finnish national legislation of preventing money laundering and terrorist financing. The changes in the law have affected how money laundering and terrorist financing are controlled. Banks must report to the authorities who are responsible for preventing money laundering and terrorist financing if they notice suspicious transactions in their client’s activity. Banks have had to adapt to changes in legislation of preventing money laundering and terrorist financing and they have had to adopt new methods to operate at the level required by law. The purpose of the research was to form a comprehensive description how the changes in the legislation of preventing money laundering and terrorist financing have affected banks’ obligation to know their customers, especially road maintenance associations and societies because the ordering bank wanted to find out how the changes in law have affected their practical operations how to know road maintenance associations and society customers. The research was implemented as a part of practical work at the bank. Carrying out the research included contacting the target group customers and updating their information based on the information provided by the customer and official register extracts. The changes in most essential obligations related to knowing the customer are compared to previous methods which were valid before the law was changed. The research part was grounded in the theory part by getting familiar with the definitions and social significance on money laundering and terrorist financing. In addition, in theory part focused on the legislation on money laundering and terrorist financing, as well as on European Union level and national level. Know your customer -methods was investigated based on the Finnish law and the recommendations given by the authorities

Mistä sun koulureppu koostuu? : Konsertti perusopetuksen ensimmäisen luokan oppilaille kouluun siirtymisen tueksi

Opinnäytetyönä suunnittelimme ja toteutimme koulukonsertin ensimmäisen luokan oppilaille. Mistä sun koulureppu koostuu -konsertin tavoitteena on tukea lasten siirtymistä esiopetuksesta perusopetukseen. Konsertti käsittelee 6-7-vuotiaan lapsen arjen suuria muutoksia lapsille samaistuttavin teemoin. Halusimme luoda elämyksellisen kokonaisuuden, jossa lapsi voi kokea osallisuuden ja oppimisen tunteita. Opinnäytetyömme perustana tarkastelemme peruskoulun musiikin opetusta, tarvetta lasten konserteille ja kouluun siirtyvän lapsen kasvun vaihetta. Tämän jälkeen esittelemme konsertin ja analysoimme sen onnistumista. Ennen konserttia haastattelimme alakoulun opettajia, minkä pohjalta suunnittelimme käsikirjoituksen ja sovitimme musiikkiohjelmiston. Konsertti oli tarkoitus järjestää Pihkapuiston ala-asteen koulussa keväällä 2020, mutta esitystä ei voinut järjestää koulussa, koska koulut olivat keskeyttäneet lähiopetuksen valtakunnallisen valmiuslain käyttöönoton takia. Halusimme kuitenkin toteuttaa konsertin ja päädyimme tekemään sen virtuaalisesti. Keräsimme Pihkapuiston ala-asteen ensimmäisen luokan oppilailta palautetta konsertista Wilma-viestin välityksellä. Annoimme lapsille mahdollisuuden käyttää omaa luovuuttaan palautteen annossa. Palautteet osoittivat, että konsertti oli ollut oppilaiden mielestä mieluisaa katseltavaa. Suurimmaksi osaksi kappaleet olivat vieraita lapsille, mutta joukossa oli heille tuttujakin kappaleita. Huomasimme kuitenkin, että konsertin sisältö olisi palvellut oppilaita paremmin syksyllä juuri koulun alettua. Moni perhe oli katsonut konsertin yhdessä, ja näin saimme luotua yhteisen osallistavan konserttielämyksen lasten kotona. Työtä tehdessä opimme paljon teknologian hyödyntämistä ja vahvistamaan pedagogisia taitojamme elämyksellisen konserttihetken toteuttamiseksi. Valtakunnallisen poikkeustilan takia opimme esimerkiksi sietämään keskeneräisyyttä videotallenteita tehdessä. Tavoitteemme on tuoda kulttuuria tiiviimmin osaksi alakoulun opetusta. Tahdomme edistää lasten mahdollisuuksia tutustua kulttuuriin monipuolisesti perheen taloudellisesta, sosiaalisesta tai kulttuurisesta tilanteesta riippumatta

Comparison of Light Use Efficiency, Plant Phenology Index, and Light Response Function-Based GPP Models in the Northern Forest Landscape

Remote sensing-based models are an adequate tool to estimate carbon dioxide (CO2) uptake by terrestrial ecosystems, and to upscale the results from ecosystem to regional or global scales. In this study we compare three models driven by Sentinel-2 derived vegetation indices together with eddy covariance (EC) measured CO2 flux and radiation data in order to estimate gross primary production (GPP) in northern Europe forest ecosystems. By integrating high spatial resolution satellite data with cutting-edge footprint analysis and an accurate GPP model, we aim at more precise estimation of GPP at regional level

Modelling Daily Gross Primary Productivity with Sentinel-2 Data in the Nordic Region-Comparison with Data from MODIS

The high-resolution Sentinel-2 data potentially enable the estimation of gross primary productivity (GPP) at finer spatial resolution by better capturing the spatial variation in a heterogeneous landscapes. This study investigates the potential of 10 m resolution reflectance from the Sentinel-2 Multispectral Instrument to improve the accuracy of GPP estimation across Nordic vegetation types, compared with the 250 m and 500 m resolution reflectance from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). We applied linear regression models with inputs of two-band enhanced vegetation index (EVI2) derived from Sentinel-2 and MODIS reflectance, respectively, together with various environmental drivers to estimate daily GPP at eight Nordic eddy covariance (EC) flux tower sites. Compared with the GPP from EC measurements, the accuracies of modelled GPP were generally high (R-2 = 0.84 for Sentinel-2; R-2 = 0.83 for MODIS), and the differences between Sentinel-2 and MODIS were minimal. This demonstrates the general consistency in GPP estimates based on the two satellite sensor systems at the Nordic regional scale. On the other hand, the model accuracy did not improve by using the higher spatial-resolution Sentinel-2 data. More analyses of different model formulations, more tests of remotely sensed indices and biophysical parameters, and analyses across a wider range of geographical locations and times will be required to achieve improved GPP estimations from Sentinel-2 satellite data