St. Petersburg 60.08°N  31.28°E

Russian Federation, central part of St. Petersburg Region (Leningradskaya oblast) and small northern part of Novgorod region

Investigators

Site Description

The site is a part of the East-European Plain with elevations between 0 and 250 m a. s. l. The terrain is mostly flat and rests on ancient sea sediments covered by a layer of moraine deposits. The region was completely glaciated during the Ice Age, and contains numerous glacial features. Soils are mostly of the podzol type on deep loamy to sandy sediments. Numerous sites in the northwestern part of the region have very thin sandy soils and exposed granite bedrock, whereas the southern and eastern parts have deep silty soils and numerous expansive peat bogs. The natural vegetation belongs to southern taiga type; major conifer species include Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) and Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) both growing in pure and mixed stands. After disturbance, these species are often replaced by northern hardwoods including birch (Betula pendula Roth.) and aspen (Populus tremula L.). The climate is cool maritime with cool wet summers and long cold winters. The mean temperature of July ranges from +16° to +17° C, and the mean temperature of January is -7° to -11° C; mean monthly temperatures are negative November through March, and annual precipitation is 600-800 mm. A large agricultural region stretches south and west from St. Petersburg, a city of over 5 million people. There are numerous towns, villages, and summer cottages throughout the site.

Land Cover

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Land Cover Change

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Global Map Analysis

Comparison of dominant life form types

Publications

a) NELDA - peer-reviewed papers

  • Pflugmacher, D., O.N. Krankina, W.B. Cohen. 2007. Satellite-based peatland mapping: Potential of the MODIS sensor. Global and Planetary Change 56 (3-4): 248-257.

b) NELDA – selected other publications and presentations

  • Krankina, O.N., K.C. McDonald, M. Friedl, W.B. Cohen, D. Pflugmacher, P. Nelson, A Baccini, 2007. The Challenge of Mapping Peatlands and the Potential of Remotely Sensed Data. Symposium Carbon in Peatlands, Wageningen, The Netherlands, 15-18 April, 2007

c) pre-NELDA – peer-reviewed papers only

  • R.A. Houghton, D. Butman, A. Bunn, O.N. Krankina, P. Schlesinger, T.A. Stone. In press. Mapping Russian Forest Biomass with Data from Satellites and Forest Inventories. Environmental Research Letters.
  • D. Pflugmacher, O.N. Krankina, W.B. Cohen. 2007. Satellite-based peatland mapping: Potential of the MODIS sensor. Global and Planetary Change 56 (3-4): 248-257.
  • R.J. Alig, O.N. Krankina, A. Yost, J. Kuzminykh. 2006. Forest Carbon Dynamics in the Pacific Northwest (USA) and the St. Petersburg Region of Russia: Comparisons and Policy Implications, Climatic Change, Jan 2006, pp. 1-26, DOI 10.1007/s10584-006-9077-7
  • S.P. Healey, W.B. Cohen, Y. Zhiqiang, O. Krankina. 2005. Comparison of Tasseled Cap-Based Landsat Data Structures for Use in Forest Disturbance Detection. Remote Sensing of Environment 97: 301 – 310
  • O.N. Krankina, R.A. Houghton, M.E. Harmon, E.H. Hogg, D. Butman, M. Yatskov, M. Huso, R.F. Treyfeld, V.N. Razuvaev, G. Spycher. 2005. Effects of Climate and Disturbance on Forest Biomass across Russia. Can. J. For. Res. 35: 2281-2293.
  • Y.V. Kuzminykh, R.J. Alig, O.N. Krankina, A.S. Yost. 2005. Social and Economic Aspects of Potential Carbon Flow to Forest Ecosystems (in Russian). Lesnoy Zhurnal (Forest Journal) 1-2:130-135.
  • Krankina, O.N., M.E. Harmon, W.B. Cohen, D.R. Oetter, O. Zyrina, Duane, M.V. 2004. Carbon Stores, Sinks, and Sources in Forests of Northwestern Russia: Can We Reconcile Forest Inventories with Remote Sensing Results? Climatic Change 67(2-3):257-272.
  • Turner, D.P., Ollinger, S., Smith, M.L., Krankina, O., Gregory, M. 2004. Scaling Net Primary Production to a MODIS Footprint in Support of Earth Observing System Product Validation. Int. J. Remote Sensing 25(10): 1961-1979.
  • Bergen, K., Conard, S., Houghton, R., Kasischke, E., Kharuk, V., Krankina, O., Ranson, J., Shugart, H., Sukhinen, A., Treyfield, R. 2003. NASA and Russian scientists observe land-cover/land-use change and carbon in Russian forests. Journal of Forestry 101(4): 34-41. (I contributed the summary of results from my studies in Northwestern Russia).
  • Krankina, O. N., Harmon, M.E., Kukuev, Y.A., Treyfeld, R.F., Kashpor, N.N., Kresnov, V.G., Skudin, V.M., Protasov, N.A., Yatskov, M., Spycher, G., Povarov, E.D. 2002. Coarse woody debris in forest regions of Russia. Can. J. For. Res. 32:768-778.
  • Treyfeld, R.F., and Krankina, O.N. 2001. Estimating volume and biomass of woody detritus using forest inventory data (Opredelenie zapasov i fitomassy drevesnogo detrita na osnove dannyh lesoustroistva). Lesnoye Khoziajstvo (Forest Management) 4: 23-26. (In Russian).
  • Krankina, O.N., R.F. Treyfeld, M.E. Harmon, G. Spycher, E.D. Povarov. 2001. Coarse woody debris in the forests of St. Petersburg region, Russia. Ecol. Bull. 49: 93–104.

d) Selected pre-NELDA – presentations

  • Duane, M. V., O. N. Krankina, S.P. Healey, J. Kuzminykh, and W. B. Cohen. Temporal and Regional Patterns of Disturbance in the St. Petersburg Region, Russia. 12th International Boreal Forest Research Association Conference, Fairbanks, Alaska, May 3-6, 2004. (Presentation)