Fine-grained detection of land use and water table changes on organic soils over the period 1992â¿¿2012 using multiple data sources in the Drömling nature park, Germany

Our study indicates that detailed land-use time series can serve as a semi-quantitative proxy for groundwater depth, but that any robust quantitative assessment of water table changes requires in situ data, e.g. from a network of dipwells. Therefore, the combination of land-use and dipwell data provided an accurate basis for estimating GHG emission reductions from drained organic soils since 1990, which is the centre of the Kyoto activity WDR, but also part of afforestation/reforestation (AR) and deforestation (D), forest management (FM), CM and GM. Even the detailed land-use time series on its own would fulfil the requirements for WDR accounting, although with considerable uncertainty about the drainage status of the organic soils. We present the study area of organic soils as a showcase for combining the difficult issues of monitoring changes in land-use intensity as well as in soil wetness, the latter being most relevant for organic soils. The methodology is equally applicable to and relevant for mineral soils.