Treeline expansion – consequences for Norwegian hydropower

With a warmer climate and fewer grazing domestic animals in the Norwegian mountains, the forests are increasingly moving higher up in the mountains. This means that previously open mountain areas dominated by lichens and heathers are slowly turning into areas dominated by shrubs and mountain forests. Because of this, evapotranspiration from the mountain areas in Norway will increase.

A three-year research project (2025-2027) at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU) will investigate the effect of the expansion of the treeline on evapotranspiration. Since evapotranspiration is an important component of the water balance, it is expected that more evapotranspiration will reduce runoff to Norwegian streams and rivers. This in turn could reduce Norway’s future hydropower potential, especially when we know that many of the hydropower reservoirs are in mountainous areas subject to forest migration.

The research project will collect field data on evapotranspiration and soil moisture at Dagali. Four field locations have been established, respectively within coniferous forest, mountain birch forest, shrubs, and lichen heaths.

The data collected will provide an important understanding of differences in evapotranspiration for vegetation above and below the treeline.

Albedo in boreal forest

Albedo in boreal forests serves as a strong climate forcing which potentially can offset the climate impact of carbon sequestration. To assess the albedo effect from different types of forest management in the Nordic countries, fine-resolution albedo products are needed to account for the patchiness and heterogeneity typical present in this biome. There are several albedo products available today. However, most of them have a spatial resolution ranging from approximately 0.25–20 km.

The overall aim of the project “Albedo in boreal forest” is to develop an estimation approach for retrieving fine-resolution albedo to evaluate the albedo effect in managed versus unmanaged forest.

Photo: Eirik Næsset Ramtvedt

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Mapping of drought stress in spruce using remote sensing

Spruce is an economically important tree species for the forestry industry in Norway. In recent years, with frequent periods of drought, it has been observed that spruce in several areas is susceptible to drought stress, which can lead to the death of trees either as a direct consequence of the drought or indirectly following bark beetle attacks. Therefore, there is a need to develop a mapping system that can provide a quick overview of the degree of drought stress for spruce stands within a given planning area.

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Predicting the impact of drought and increased temperatures on boreal forest ecosystems in Norway (PREDICT)

In the project “Predicting the impact of drought and increased temperatures on boreal forest ecosystems in Norway” (PREDICT), we are going to find out how the Norwegian spruce responds to climate change. We will do this through a large national network of meters that monitor the trees’ health online.

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SmartForest

The primary objective of SmartForest is to improve the efficiency of the Norwegian forest sector by enabling a digital revolution transforming forest information, silviculture, forest operations, wood supply and the overall digital information flow in the sector.

NMBU is leading the work packages 1, 5 and 6 (Fig. 1).


Fig. 1. Work package structure.

See the project web pages for more info.