Publication about surface motion of peatlands

This review / meta study about surface motion (long-term subsidence and short-term fluctuation) of peatlands on a global scale compiles all available subsidence measurements ever made and models ever developed. Furthermore, it provides an overview of the most relevant processes involved in surface surface motion and ground-based methods to measure subsidence (remote sensing is only shortly mentioned).

As one of the most important processes of subsidence is biochemical mineralization which lead to CO₂ emissions, this topic is relevant for the determination of GHG emissions. Unfortunately, there are also solely physical processes contributing to both long-term and short-term surface motion which mask mineralization-induced subsidence and complicate the determination of CO₂ emissions.

Based on the compiled subsidence models we developed and optimized new subsidence models one of which is able to - at least roughly - estimate the share of long-term physical and biochemical subsidence.

https://doi.org/10.1002/eco.70140