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MOIST
Monitoring water status beyond the tree scale: new tools for forest health assessment
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MOIST develops new measures to monitor the water status of forests at local, regional and continental scales, overcoming the need for connection between specific measurements and those that satellites provide at large scales. The project uses the optical depth of vegetation (VOD), obtained by transmissometry (GNSS-T) and microon radiometry by satellite, to estimate the contingut and water potential in fulles and tiges. It will apply pressure-volume corbes at the ecosystem level and provide results to forestry and fire managers. The project will establish a strong link between remote sensing and ecophysiology.
Increasing droughts reduce the water stored in trees leading to widespread forest mortality and higher fire risk. To know where and when forests are endangered, it is crucial to regularly monitor their water status at large (plot to global) scales.
However, there is a large information scale gap between the current measures of water status at the tree level and the target larger scales. Remote sensing retrievals of vegetation optical depth (VOD) can bridge this gap. The VOD is a parameter retrieved using global navigation satellite systems transmissometry (at plot scale) and satellite radiometry (at up to global scale). Recent research shows how water information can be isolated from VOD, and points to the application of different microwave frequencies to sense water in different tree tissues.
In MOIST, VOD at plot and regional scales will be compared to in situ leaf and stem ecophysiological data. The VOD will be used to estimate water content in leaves and stems. Then, ecosystem-scale pressure volume curves, a novel concept in plant ecophysiology, will be applied to retrieve water potential estimates at plot and regional scales for the first time. Results will be provided to fire and forestry administrations to enhance their assessment of drought risks on forests.
MOIST will connect the remote sensing and ecophysiology communities, involve an international network of researchers, and work with world-leading experts in forest ecophysiology in an internationally renowned centre. MOIST will reach scientists worldwide and engage young generations in taking care of forests. With novel approaches to monitor the forests’ water status at large scales, MOIST will bridge the water information scale gap and provide unprecedented tools to assess forest conditions and risks.
