A deep learning approach for high-resolution mapping of Scottish peatland degradation

Peat makes up approximately a quarter of Scotland's soil by area. Healthy, undisturbed, peatland habitats are critical to providing resilient biodiversity and habitat support, water management, and carbon sequestration. A high and stable water table is a prerequisite to maintain carbon sink function; any drainage turns this major terrestrial carbon store into a source that feeds back further to global climate change. Drainage and erosion features are crucial indicators of peatland condition and are key for estimating national greenhouse gas emissions. Previous work on mapping peat depth and condition in Scotland has provided maps with reasonable accuracy at 100-m resolution, allowing land managers and policymakers to both plan and manage these soils and to work towards identifying priority peat sites for restoration. However, the spatial variability of the surface condition is much finer than this scale, limiting the ability to inventory greenhouse gas emissions or develop site-specific restoration and management plans. This work involves an updated set of mapping using high-resolution (25 cm) aerial imagery, which provides the ability to identify and segment individual drainage channels and erosion features. Combining this imagery with a classical deep learning-based segmentation model enables high spatial resolution, national scale mapping to be carried out allowing for a deeper understanding of Scotland's peatland resource and which will enable various future analyses using these data.