New publication: Modelling in-ground wood decay using time-series retrievals from the 5th European Climate Reanalysis (ERA5-Land)

This article presents models to predict the time until mechanical failure of in-ground wooden test specimens resulting from fungal decay. Historical records of decay ratings were modelled by remotely-sensed data from ERA5-Land. In total, 2,570 test specimens of 16 different wood species were exposed at 21 different test sites, representing three continents and climatic conditions from sub-polar to tropical, spanning a period from 1980 until 2022. For each specimen’s exposure period, a laboratory developed dose-response model was populated using remotely-sensed soil moisture and temperature data retrieved from ERA5-Land. Dose, a mechanistic weighting of daily exposure conditions over time, generally performed better than exposure time alone as a predictor of in-ground wood decay progression. The open-access availability of remotely-sensed soil-state data in combination with wood specimen data proved promising for in-ground wood decay predictions.

Contact:

Prof. Dr. Christian Brischke

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Link to the literature page (PDF file)