Waikato regional peat subsidence lidar monitoring

About this report

The Waikato region has about 84,000 ha of peatlands, of which about 65,000 ha has been drained, mostly for agriculture, resulting in shrinkage, consolidation and oxidation of the organic soil. These three processes are collectively called peat subsidence, which is a gradual lowering of the land surface.

Waikato Regional Council require robust spatial information on regional peatland subsidence rates and spatial variation, and contracted Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research (in collaboration with the University of Canterbury and University of Waikato) to develop a new Waikato regional peat subsidence monitoring network for peatlands under agriculture.

This report documents the first round of regional monitoring and installation of the regional peat surface oscillation monitoring network.