New COAT-related RCN project
Published on: 24. March 2020
The Research Council of Norway has funded a new three-year project that will be led by core personnel from the tundra-forest module of COAT.
The project is entitled NORTHERN FOREST and aims to develop a system for near-term forecasting (1-3 years) of insect outbreaks and forest damage in northern-boreal mountain birch forest. The statistical forecasting models that will be developed during the project will be based on data from COATs long-term monitoring of crown-loss, forest-health and densities of moth larvae, in combination with new downscaled climate data and productivity maps to be developed by the Norwegian Meteorological Institute and the Norwegian Institute for Bioeconomy Research. The project will put emphasis on stakeholder involvement and has been developed in collaboration with the County governor of Troms and Finnmark, the Director of Forestry in Finnmark and the Finnmark Estate Agency. An important goal of the project is to facilitate dialogue between researchers and managers concerning the structure an interpretation of forecasting models, and how near-term forecasts can lead to concrete management actions.