Assessment of the impact of forest plantations on the intensity of commercial frequency electromagnetic fields

Introduction. Influence of forest plantations on intensity of electromagnetic fields (EMF) of commercial frequency (50 Hz), generated by high voltage power transmission line (PTL), is considered. Materials and methods. The study was conducted near the village of Boltino in the Moscow Region. The EMF measurements were made on two profiles perpendicular to the 500 kV PTL (power transmission line) axis, one of which passes through the forest area, the other one does not cross it. Measurements of commercial frequency electromagnetic fields (CFEMF) were carried out using a measurement device and antennas, designed to measure the intensities of magnetic and electrical fields. Results. The comparative analysis of the character of change of electric and magnetic components of EMF with distance from the PTL axis allowed to establish the effect of EMF intensity decrease starting from the forest area boundary. Diagrams show that EMF reduction effect is more pronounced for the electrical component. Conclusions. The revealed effect to a certain extent shows the analogy of the forest area with the Faraday cage. However, such an analogy is not complete due to the fact that the forest area is not a perfectly conductive body, but has only a low conductivity. Additional EMF reduction occurs as a result of partial EMF energy absorption by the forest area