9th National Forest Inventory (NFI9)

Field Measurements

Forest stand | Trees | Dead trees 

Since 2001 the NFI sample plots have been located with a GPS. Before that a field team located the plots by measuring distances and bearings. A sample plot is established, if the mid point is within forestry land, or if some trees from adjoining forest stands are included in the plot. In the NFI9, over 66 000 sample plots were measured on forestry land.

On the sample plots, various information were measured and assessed both at tree, plot and stand level. In the NFI9, a field crew consisted of tree members: a foreman and two assistants. The data was stored on a field computer, unloaded to a PC in the evenings and sent to the computers in the headquarter.

Details of the field measurements are described in the field manuals (in Finnish) for Southern-Finland (pdf, 1.1 MB) and Northern-Finland (pdf, 1.2 MB).

A NFI field team heading to the next sample plot.