Field Observatory

Field Observatory illustrates the effects of carbon farming on Finnish farms, and the development of an international carbon sequestration verification system.

Data

The data of the Field Observatory comes directly from many intensive research sites operated by Finnish research organizations and from Advanced Carbon Action (ACA) farms, operated by private farmers.  In all sites, landowners and/or landmanagers are involved in the Carbon Action research. In addition, online data comes from one Swedish pilot farm (Svensk Kolinlagring), one ICOS site in Belgium, and from multiple sites operated by collaborating companies (Lantmännen and Valio).

The data is collected both manually and with continuous online measurements. Annual soil samples have been collected from each ACA farm since 2019 and analysed in laboratory. These are supplemented by field measurements of soil structure and vegetation. Soil moisture, temperature and salinity data are measured online (hourly data) in all study sites. In the intensive study sites, e.g. Ruukki and Qvidja, there are online eddy covariance measurements of CO₂, water and energy fluxes.

In addition, the Field Observatory utilizes the open weather data of the Finnish Meteorological Institute, sentinel-2 data for Normalized Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Leaf Area Index (LAI), and Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service (CAMS) for Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR).

The data in the Field Observatory is used in carbon cycling modeling.

Carbon Farming practices

Different carbon farming practices are tested in parallel with control plots in the Carbon Action farms. Each practice is tested at three to five farms to get experience from different farmers, soil types and locations. The practices in use include cover crops, organic soil amendments, subsoiling, ley farming, and adaptive grazing.

Carbon Action

In the Carbon Action platform, scientists, farmers and companies work together to enhance carbon storing through regenerative farming practices. Carbon Action includes in total over 100 pilot farms to test different practices, around 40 research projects, and 14 companies.

The team

The partners developing the Field Observatory are the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI), the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE), Baltic Sea Action Group (BSAG), Häme University of Applied Sciences (HAMK), in collaboration with the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE) and the Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research (INAR) from the University of Helsinki.

Carbon Action platform is coordinated by BSAG, while FMI is responsible for coordinating the research.

Links:

Field Observatory: https://www.fieldobservatory.org/index.php/home/

Carbon Action: https://www.bsag.fi/en/carbon-action-en/