Latvian Canopy Heights

Current (autumn 2019) coverage of Latvian Forest Heights. Classified areas are shown with red color. Coverage is about half of Latvia.

Introduction

The JSC “Latvian State Forests” is maintaining a map of the national canopy height levels. Coverage is currently (2019) about half of the Latvian territory. The maps are developed using LiDAR scans of Latvia from the years 2013-2016 and the Latvian canopy/forest heights in windPRO comes with a 5m grid resolution. This dataset will be updated as new data become available from the Latvian State Forests.

Data Applicability and Availability within windPRO

The forest height data are used as input for the dedicated sub-models in windPRO which takes into account the forest impact on the wind flow. This is the displacement height calculator and the Objective Roughness Approach (ORA) tool. Both forest models are available from windPRO 3.2+. The forest data is accessed from the online-services from the ‘elevation grid object’ with data-type set to ‘Heights above terrain (a.g.l) for elements’.

Technical Details (EMD processed data)

Dataformat:
- GeoTiff

Coordinate System:
- Latvia LKS92 (EPSG: 3059)

Pixel values:
- Canopy height 2013-2016 (m)
- 0 is a null value: the pixel does not belong to forestry land or canopy height is outside boundaries set
- For the data distributed in windPRO, the null values and missing data are neglected.

Spatial Resolution in windPRO:
- Horizontal: 5m
- Vertical: 2-4m (canopy height is classified in 10 descrete bins, in windPRO we use the bin-average value).
- Original vertical intervals were: 1.7-4m, 4-6m, 6-8m, 8-12m, 12-16m, 16-20m, 20-24m, 24-28m, 28-32m and 32-45m

Example of Latvian Canopy Height Data 2013-2016 in windPRO – Wind Farm at Grobina, Latvia.

License

This product belongs to the free and open data of the JSC "Latvian state Forests" - which offers everyone interested to use the data. The canopy height data were derived from data-sources belonging to the Geospatial Information Agency of Latvia. When using the data, the original sources of data must be referenced.

Attribution

If data are derived from this dataset and used within a published product, then it is mandatory to provide a reference to the source of data. Please accept the license conditions and use a proper attribution when using this dataset. If you derive data from this dataset or are using it within a published product, then use the notification below (or a simmilar attribution). EMD suggests to use the following reference:

Contains: Canopy height data from JSC “Latvian state Forests”. 
The canopy height data was prepared using digital terrain model source data from the Latvian Geospatial Information Agency, © 2016. 
Processing and distribution through EMD and windPRO. 

Acknowledgements

• The JSC "Latvian state Forests", Latvian Geospatial Information Agency and the pubic of Latvia are thanked for producing this digital elevation dataset – and disseminating it in the public domain - and thus for aiding the development of renewable energy and help fight climate change.
• Integration of this dataset into EMD services - was co-supported through the InnoWind project (www.innowind.dk) - which is co-funded by the Danish Innovation Fund

External References

• Latvian State Forest: https://www.lvmgeo.lv/en/data
• InnoWind project: http://www.innowind.dk