Methods
Summary
Preliminarly work:
Based on satellite images (ALOS-PALSAR and Landsat) we identify some sectors with typical reflectance of wetted environments, and identify a group of this habitats located in a zone gently slopes that covers an area on 120 km2 (approximately) where it is possible to develop an intensive sampling campaign during 5 to 7 days of field work.
Field work
Once installed in the field, we have planned to develop three types of work:
▪ Take some core samples (2 per peatland), until a maximum depth of 10 meters, using a Russian peat corer
▪ Install between three to six water level monitoring stations at each identified peatland
▪ Develop a preliminary depth map of each peatland using the tile probe in a structured mesh
Lab work
As part of the lab work, we will estimate the total content of organic matter in the peat samples (cores) by total burning.
A second core sample will remain stored until obtain some funds to date the basal age and changes in historical development
Challenges
The principal challenge, will be related with the possibility to do not confirm that the preliminarly identified sites, are effectively peatlands.
During the field work some challenges are related with security of the team.
For the first situation, we select a relatively large area of territory, with great amount of humidity, with high probability to contain peatlands.
To overcome the second challenge, we will implement a security protocol in coordination with the personel of the National Police, this protocol includes:
Radio transmisors
First aid kit and training
Pre Analysis Plan
We plan to estimate the total amount of Organic Matter (OM) stored in the studied peatlands using the thicknes maps and the OM content obtained from the core burning procedure.
We plan to map the curent water level, using the values registered in the field, and interpolating for all the peatland surface.
The water monitoring wells will be installed in the field with automatic recorders, and the data will be collected in one year to evaluate the temporal variability
Protocols
This project has not yet shared any protocols.