Forsite II Preparation of climate data

The extensive lack of forest site maps in Burgenland, Upper Austria and Lower Austria makes a new approach to site reconnaissance and mapping of the occurring forest sites necessary. A challenge is the consideration of future changes in climatic conditions, which will affect the classification of sites and the suitability of tree species. Within the FORSITE II project, a dynamic forest typing based on a GIS-supported geo-ecological stratification model will therefore be carried out. Existing geodata (e.g. elevation model, geological base map), available site and climate data will be used as a data basis. For the forest type map, topic maps for the factors climate zone, water and nutrient balance are to be modeled first on the basis of the point and area data, which are then combined into forest types with a uniform factor combination. The model then allows stratification of forest types on all main forest sites based on digital geoecological parameters derived from the data bases (including elevation, slope, substrate, landform, and slope). Each forest type is represented on the forest type map at a scale of 1:25,000. This part of the project deals with the processing of climate data.