Mapping peat depth using a portable gamma-ray sensor and terrain attributes

Pristine peatlands being excellent storage for terrestrial Carbon (C) play a crucial role in regulating climate and water and provide several important ecosystem services. However, peatlands have been heavily altered (e.g., by draining the water table), increasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Res...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Triven Koganti, Diana Vigah Adetsu, John Triantafilis, Mogens H. Greve, Amélie Marie Beucher
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2023-11-01
Series:Geoderma
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S001670612300349X
_version_ 1827767729515397120
author Triven Koganti
Diana Vigah Adetsu
John Triantafilis
Mogens H. Greve
Amélie Marie Beucher
author_facet Triven Koganti
Diana Vigah Adetsu
John Triantafilis
Mogens H. Greve
Amélie Marie Beucher
author_sort Triven Koganti
collection DOAJ
description Pristine peatlands being excellent storage for terrestrial Carbon (C) play a crucial role in regulating climate and water and provide several important ecosystem services. However, peatlands have been heavily altered (e.g., by draining the water table), increasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Restoring peatlands requires a comprehensive characterization, including knowledge of peat depth (PD; m). Traditionally, this requires the physical insertion of a push probe, which is time-consuming and labor-intensive. It has been shown that non-invasive proximal sensing techniques such as electromagnetic induction and ground penetrating radar can add value to PD data. In this research, we want to assess the potential of proximally sensed gamma-ray (γ-ray) spectrometry (i.e., potassium [K], thorium [Th], uranium [U], and the count rate [CR]) and terrain attributes data (i.e., elevation, slope, SAGAWI, and MRVBF) to map PD either alone or in combination across a small (10 ha) peatland area in ØBakker, Denmark. Here, the PD varies from 0.1 m in the south to 7.3 m in the north. We use various prediction models including ordinary kriging (OK) of PD, linear regression (LR), multiple LR (MLR), LR kriging (LRK), MLR kriging (MLRK) and empirical Bayesian kriging regression (EBKR). We also determine the minimum calibration sample size required by decreasing sample size in decrements (i.e., n = 100, 90, 80,…, 30). We compare these approaches using prediction agreement (Lin’s concordance correlation coefficient; LCCC) and accuracy (root mean square error; RMSE). The results show that OK using maximum calibration size (n = 108) had near perfect agreement (0.97) and accuracy (0.59 m), compared to LR (ln CR; 0.65 and 0.78 m, respectively) and MLR (ln K, Th, CR and elevation; 0.85 and 0.63 m). Improvements are achieved by adding residuals; LRK (0.95 and 0.71 m) and MLRK (0.96 and 0.51 m). The best results were obtained using EBKR (0.97 and 0.63 m) given all predictions were positive and no significant change in agreement and standard errors with the decrement of calibration sample size (e.g., n = 30). The results have implications towards C stocks assessment and improved land use planning to control GHG emissions and slow down global warming.
first_indexed 2024-03-11T12:02:03Z
format Article
id doaj.art-ce80d21349ed4587a00a33a5f737320d
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 1872-6259
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-11T12:02:03Z
publishDate 2023-11-01
publisher Elsevier
record_format Article
series Geoderma
spelling doaj.art-ce80d21349ed4587a00a33a5f737320d2023-11-08T04:08:43ZengElsevierGeoderma1872-62592023-11-01439116672Mapping peat depth using a portable gamma-ray sensor and terrain attributesTriven Koganti0Diana Vigah Adetsu1John Triantafilis2Mogens H. Greve3Amélie Marie Beucher4Department of Agroecology, Aarhus University, Blichers Allé 20, 8830 Tjele, Denmark; Corresponding author.Department of Agroecology, Aarhus University, Blichers Allé 20, 8830 Tjele, DenmarkManaaki Whenua Landcare Research, P.O. Box 69040, Lincoln 7640, New ZealandDepartment of Agroecology, Aarhus University, Blichers Allé 20, 8830 Tjele, DenmarkDepartment of Agroecology, Aarhus University, Blichers Allé 20, 8830 Tjele, DenmarkPristine peatlands being excellent storage for terrestrial Carbon (C) play a crucial role in regulating climate and water and provide several important ecosystem services. However, peatlands have been heavily altered (e.g., by draining the water table), increasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Restoring peatlands requires a comprehensive characterization, including knowledge of peat depth (PD; m). Traditionally, this requires the physical insertion of a push probe, which is time-consuming and labor-intensive. It has been shown that non-invasive proximal sensing techniques such as electromagnetic induction and ground penetrating radar can add value to PD data. In this research, we want to assess the potential of proximally sensed gamma-ray (γ-ray) spectrometry (i.e., potassium [K], thorium [Th], uranium [U], and the count rate [CR]) and terrain attributes data (i.e., elevation, slope, SAGAWI, and MRVBF) to map PD either alone or in combination across a small (10 ha) peatland area in ØBakker, Denmark. Here, the PD varies from 0.1 m in the south to 7.3 m in the north. We use various prediction models including ordinary kriging (OK) of PD, linear regression (LR), multiple LR (MLR), LR kriging (LRK), MLR kriging (MLRK) and empirical Bayesian kriging regression (EBKR). We also determine the minimum calibration sample size required by decreasing sample size in decrements (i.e., n = 100, 90, 80,…, 30). We compare these approaches using prediction agreement (Lin’s concordance correlation coefficient; LCCC) and accuracy (root mean square error; RMSE). The results show that OK using maximum calibration size (n = 108) had near perfect agreement (0.97) and accuracy (0.59 m), compared to LR (ln CR; 0.65 and 0.78 m, respectively) and MLR (ln K, Th, CR and elevation; 0.85 and 0.63 m). Improvements are achieved by adding residuals; LRK (0.95 and 0.71 m) and MLRK (0.96 and 0.51 m). The best results were obtained using EBKR (0.97 and 0.63 m) given all predictions were positive and no significant change in agreement and standard errors with the decrement of calibration sample size (e.g., n = 30). The results have implications towards C stocks assessment and improved land use planning to control GHG emissions and slow down global warming.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S001670612300349XProximal soil sensingDigital soil mappingPeat thicknessSoil carbonClimate change
spellingShingle Triven Koganti
Diana Vigah Adetsu
John Triantafilis
Mogens H. Greve
Amélie Marie Beucher
Mapping peat depth using a portable gamma-ray sensor and terrain attributes
Geoderma
Proximal soil sensing
Digital soil mapping
Peat thickness
Soil carbon
Climate change
title Mapping peat depth using a portable gamma-ray sensor and terrain attributes
title_full Mapping peat depth using a portable gamma-ray sensor and terrain attributes
title_fullStr Mapping peat depth using a portable gamma-ray sensor and terrain attributes
title_full_unstemmed Mapping peat depth using a portable gamma-ray sensor and terrain attributes
title_short Mapping peat depth using a portable gamma-ray sensor and terrain attributes
title_sort mapping peat depth using a portable gamma ray sensor and terrain attributes
topic Proximal soil sensing
Digital soil mapping
Peat thickness
Soil carbon
Climate change
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S001670612300349X
work_keys_str_mv AT trivenkoganti mappingpeatdepthusingaportablegammaraysensorandterrainattributes
AT dianavigahadetsu mappingpeatdepthusingaportablegammaraysensorandterrainattributes
AT johntriantafilis mappingpeatdepthusingaportablegammaraysensorandterrainattributes
AT mogenshgreve mappingpeatdepthusingaportablegammaraysensorandterrainattributes
AT ameliemariebeucher mappingpeatdepthusingaportablegammaraysensorandterrainattributes