Climate change mitigation potential of restoration of boreal peatlands drained for forestry can be adjusted by site selection and restoration measures

Peatland restoration is seen as a key nature-based solution to tackle climate change and biodiversity loss. In Europe, nearly 50% of peatlands have been drained during the last decades, which have shifted their soils to carbon dioxide (CO2) sources. Soils of forestry-drained peatlands are known to vary from CO2 sources to small sinks depending on their fertility and wetness. When peatlands are restored, it can be expected that rates of CO2 and methane exchange will vary depending on site fertility and wetness. We generated seven restoration pathways with different starting and end points and assessed the climate impacts of them. The GHG emission coefficients were compiled from literature, and radiative forcing was calculated for a 500-year time period since restoration. All seven restoration pathways improved carbon sink capacity; however, the climate impact differed from cooling to warming. The highest cooling impact occurred in a pathway leading from nutrient-rich drained peatlands toward tree-covered spruce or pine mires. Warming impacts occurred in a pathway leading from nutrient-poor drained peatlands toward open peatlands. The results of this study can be used to help identify peatland sites and restoration targets to maximize climate change mitigation from restoration. In practice, however, restoration has to fulfill other targets, such as biodiversity safeguarding, improvement of hydrological conditions, and socio-economic aspects. Fulfilling all targets simultaneously requires compromises on all targets.Peer reviewe

Monitoring suspended solids and total phosphorus in Finnish rivers

Abstract Monitoring of water quality should not be solely based on laboratory samples. Such activity, although producing reliable results, cannot provide an accurate enough temporal coverage for water quality monitoring. The Finnish Environment Institute, SYKE, has therefore established numerous online water monitoring stations that continuously monitor water quality. The problem with the automatic monitoring, however, is that the recorded values are not reliable as such and need to be subject to quality control and uncertainty estimation. Here, as the main contribution, we present a computational service that we have implemented to automate and integrate the water quality monitoring process. We also present a case study regarding the river Väänteenjoki and discuss the obtained uncertainty results and their implication

Dissemination of thermodynamic temperature above the freezing point of silver

The mise-en-pratique for the definition of the kelvin at high temperatures will formally allow dissemination of thermodynamic temperature either directly or mediated through high-temperature fixed points (HTFPs). In this paper, these two distinct dissemination methods are evaluated, namely source-based and detector-based. This was achieved by performing two distinct dissemination trials: one based on HTFPs, the other based on absolutely calibrated radiation thermometers or filter radiometers. These trials involved six national metrology institutes in Europe in the frame of the European Metrology Research Programme joint project ‘Implementing the new kelvin’ (InK). The results have shown that both dissemination routes are possible, with similar standard uncertainties of 1–2 K, over the range 1273–2773 K, showing that, depending on the facilities available in the laboratory , it will soon be possible to disseminate thermodynamic temperatures above 1273 K to users by either of the two methods with uncertainties comparable to the current temperature scale. </jats:p