Soil depth and depth of burn in peat deposits and peatlands in the Boreal Shield, ON.

This is a field data set collected post-fire (in May/June 2019), after the PAR33 fire that ignited in July 2018. Data consists of point measurements to retroactively evaluated burn severity and carbon loss. Further, time series water level data from nearby unburned sites were incorporated in analyses.

The objective of this research is to develop a water futures risk assessment framework (WFRA) for boreal users and stakeholders to create a more resilient wildland-society-water nexus in Canada's boreal landscape. Specifically, the sub-project focused on the knowledge gaps surrounding wetland wildfire interactions, since wetlands and wildfire are ubiquitous across the boreal. Fire behaviour in peat deposits and wetlands were assessed through research involving natural fire.

The purpose of this research was to test peat depth as a control on peat burn severity, to provide a simple and (relatively) easy metric to assess vulnerability to severe burning in areas with high organic soil content. We related peat depth to peatland function using multiple sites with continuous water level data.

NOBEL: Northern Ontario Bogs and Barrens Landscape, ON.