Since the 1990s, many peatlands that were drained for peat extraction and agriculture in Russia have been abandoned with high CO₂ emissions and frequent fires, such as the enormous fires around Moscow in 2010. The fire hazard in these peatlands can be reduced through peatland rewetting and wetland restoration, so monitoring peatland status is essential. However, large expanses, poor accessibility, and fast plant succession pose as challenges for monitoring these areas without satellite images. In this study, a technique involving multispectral satellite data was used to identify six land cover classes that meet the requirements for peatland monitoring using the Meschera National Park as the testing area. This park is the largest area of once-exploited and now rewetted peatlands. However, data from one scanner are often insufficient to successfully implement this technique. In this study, we compared the land cover classifications obtained by using data from Spot-5, Spot-6, Landsat-7, Landsat-8, and Sentinel-2 satellites. The Spot-6 data were insufficient, despite having a higher spatial resolution, due to the lack of a shortwave infrared (SWIR) band. The high classification accuracy attained using data from other sensors enabled their combined use to provide an acceptable accuracy in the final product. The classification results were compared using minimum distance Erdas Imagine and the object-oriented ScanEx Image Processor, and the classification accuracy was similar between satellite images, which facilitates the transition from one method to another without quality loss. The proposed and tested approach can be used to analyze the status of abandoned and rewetted peatlands in other locations for the inventory and prioritization of sites for rewetting and restoration, monitoring status changes, and assessing restoration efficacy. The comparability of the data from different sensors allows for the combination of classified images and creates new possibilities for time series analysis.

Forest-peat fires are notable for their difficulty in estimating carbon losses. Combined carbon losses from tree biomass and peat soil were estimated at an 8 ha forest-peat fire in the Moscow region after catastrophic fires in 2010. The loss of tree biomass carbon was assessed by reconstructing forest stand structure using the classification of pre-fire high-resolution satellite imagery and after-fire ground survey of the same forest classes in adjacent areas. Soil carbon loss was assessed by using the root collars of stumps to reconstruct the pre-fire soil surface and interpolating the peat characteristics of adjacent non-burned areas. The mean (median) depth of peat losses across the burned area was 15 ± 8 (14) cm, varying from 13 ± 5 (11) to 20 ± 9 (19). Loss of soil carbon was 9.22 ± 3.75–11.0 ± 4.96 (mean) and 8.0–11.0 kg m⁻² (median); values exceeding 100 tC ha⁻¹ have also been found in other studies. The estimated soil carbon loss for the entire burned area, 98 (mean) and 92 (median) tC ha⁻¹, significantly exceeds the carbon loss from live (tree) biomass, which averaged 58.8 tC ha⁻¹. The loss of carbon in the forest-peat fire thus equals the release of nearly 400 (soil) and, including the biomass, almost 650 tCO₂ ha⁻¹ into the atmosphere, which illustrates the underestimated impact of boreal forest-peat fires on atmospheric gas concentrations and climate.

The capabilities of several multispectral satellite data types to identify the status of peatlands affected by peat extraction and abandoned deposits are examined to assess potential fire dangers and...

Неиспользуемые осушенные торфяники представляют наибольшую опасность с точки зрения торфяных пожаров. Особенно это касается заброшенных без рекультивации полей фрезерной добычи торфа, максимальные площади которых расположены в Московской области. При отсутствии экономических оснований их хозяйственного использования наиболее эффективный путь снижения пожарной опасности и улучшения экологического состояния таких земель – обводнение и искусственное заболачивание. Необходимы определение первоочередных объектов обводнения и их последующий мониторинг для оценки эффективности проводимых мероприятий. Такие объекты могут иметь значительные размеры, быть труднопроходимыми и сложными для наземного картографирования. Пожары и обводнение способствуют быстрым изменениям растительного покрова. Для его мониторинга необходимы данные дистанционного зондирования Земли, прежде всего, мультиспектральные спутниковые данные. Большое число объектов, их разброс в пространстве, а также необходимость многолетних наблюдений требуют комбинирование данных различных спутников. Представлен опыт мониторинга 73 тыс. га торфяников в Московской области, обводненных в 2010-2013 гг. после пожаров 2010 г. Его текущие результаты показали сокращение площадей открытого торфа и сухолюбивой травяной растительности, незначительные изменения площадей, занятых древесной хвойной растительностью и поступательное расширение площади, занятой лиственной, увеличение после обводнения и последующее поддержание общей площади гидрофильных сообществ и открытой воды. Разработанная и апробированная методика позволяет оценивать эффективность обводнения торфяников для снижения опасности торфяных пожаров, а также выявлять участки, требующие дополнительных мероприятий. Предложенный алгоритм обеспечивает достоверное выделение в полуавтоматическом режиме 6 классов растительного/почвенного покрова, различающихся по пожарной опасности и основным экологическим характеристикам, определяющим потоки парниковых газов, биологическое разнообразие и другие экосистемные функции. торфяные пожары, экологическая безопасность, мультиспектральные спутниковые данные, восстановление болот

The joint population dynamics of the cowberry (Vaccinium vitis-idaea) and bilberry (V. myrtillus) have been studied in a protected, subxeric Cladina–Vaccinium pine forest (boreo-nemoral zone) at the middle and late stages of postfire succession. Features of the sampling design included a long observation term (25 years), a large sample size on permanent transects, a reexamination interval of 5 years, and the determination of species rooted frequency on small (20 × 20 cm) quadrats. We propose a discrete Markov chain as a model of species replacement on the quadrats. It has the following four states: both species are absent on the quadrat, only cowberry is present, only bilberry is present, and both species are simultaneously present. It was found that all possible transitions between states occurred in each time interval in the forest; this results in a complete digraph (directed graph) of transitions. The frequency of transitions from one state to another varies between the observation intervals; however, the calculation of the Mantel–Haenszel statistical test shows that the samples are homogeneous for most of the of transition variants. This makes it possible to move from the averaging of transition matrices to the averaging of the transition probabilities. We have revealed a unidirectional trend in time changes for three of the chain states: the proportion of quadrats occupied only by bilberry V. myrtillus and those with both species constantly increases, while the proportion of “empty” quadrats decreases. The fourth state (quadrats occupied only by cowberry V. vitis-idaea) has a local maximum at the middle stages of succession, followed by a later decrease in its proportion. The distribution of quadrats by state (29.1% of quadrats are occupied only by bilberry Vaccinium myrtillus, 15.2% contain only by cowberry V. vitis-idaea, 44.4% have both species, and 11.3% are species-free) is expected to be the terminal stable outcome of the species dynamics. The results confirm that the coexistence of V. myrtillus and V. vitis-idaea can be stable at the final succession stages. Several succession stages are described: the proportion of dwarf shrubs is low at the first stage; then quadrats are dominated by V. vitis-idaea at the second stage; and, finally, V. myrtillus is dominant at the third stage (although the quadrats where both species grow together prevail). The total time of postfire succession in the subxeric Cladina–Vaccinium pine forest (in the boreo-nemoral zone) is estimated to be approximately 140 years (when the state differs from the equilibrium state by less than 5%). In terms of forest typology, the modeling result indicates that the Cladina–Vaccinium pine forest is gradually transforming into a bilberry–cowberry pine forest and then into a cowberry–bilberry pine forest.