Ane Zubizarreta-Gerendiain,
Petri Pellikka,
Jordi Garcia-Gonzalo,
Veli-Pekka Ikonen,
Heli Peltola 
Factors affecting wind and snow damage of individual trees in a small management unit in Finland: assessment based on inventoried damage and mechanistic modelling
Zubizarreta-Gerendiain A., Pellikka P., Garcia-Gonzalo J., Ikonen V.-P., Peltola H. (2012). Factors affecting wind and snow damage of individual trees in a small management unit in Finland: assessment based on inventoried damage and mechanistic modelling. Silva Fennica vol. 46 no. 2 article id 441. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.441
Abstract
In this work, we assessed the factors affecting wind and snow damage of individual trees in a small management unit in western Finland. This was done based on inventoried damage and observed wind speeds and snow loading in storms Pyry and Janika in 2001 and Mielikki in 2002 together with mechanistic model. First, we studied which factors explain the observed damage in individual trees. Secondly, we studied how well the mechanistic model (HWIND) could predict the wind speed needed to uproot individual trees at the margins of permanent upwind edges. We found that Pyry storm caused 70% and Janika and Mielikki 18 and 12% of observed damage. In Janika storm, all trees uprooted. In other storms, both uprooting and stem breakage occurred. Scots pine suffered the most damage. Recently thinned stands on the upwind edges of open areas suffered the most damage. But, damage occurred also on soils with relatively shallow anchorage. HWIND predicted correctly damage for 69% of all uprooted trees. No-uprooting was correctly predicted for 45 and 19% of standing trees (all Scots pines), which were measured within and at the immediate upwind edge of same stands. HWIND model needs further validation at the permanent edges and/or on soils with shallow rooting to improve its prediction accuracy in such conditions.
Keywords
Pinus sylvestris;
Picea abies;
Betula spp.;
critical wind speed;
snow loading;
damage risk
- Zubizarreta-Gerendiain, Technical University of Lisbon, School of Agriculture, Forest Research Centre, Lisbon, Portugal E-mail azg@nn.po
- Pellikka, University of Helsinki, Dept. of Geosciences and Geography, Helsinki, Finland E-mail pp@nn.fi
- Garcia-Gonzalo, Technical University of Lisbon, School of Agriculture, Forest Research Centre, Lisbon, Portugal E-mail jgg@nn.po
- Ikonen, University of Eastern Finland, School of Forest Sciences, Joensuu, Finland E-mail vpi@nn.fi
-
Peltola,
University of Eastern Finland, School of Forest Sciences, Joensuu, Finland
E-mail
heli.peltola@uef.fi
Received 3 November 2011 Accepted 22 February 2012 Published 31 December 2012
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