Peat Condition, Peatslide Risk and Carbon Accounting

Terra Motion's peatland applications turn satellite radar ground-motion measurements into information on peatland condition, peat-slide risk and carbon loss. Degraded peatlands are a net source of greenhouse gas emissions, and peat slides threaten habitats, infrastructure and peatland landscapes, yet there has been no cost-effective way to monitor the state of large peatland areas.

The applications are built on outputs from APSIS™ (Advanced Pixel System using Intermittent SBAS), Terra Motion's patented InSAR algorithm developed in partnership with the University of Nottingham. APSIS processes satellite Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data, including Sentinel-1 imagery, into measurements of surface motion over vegetated and natural land, from a few millimetres to several centimetres per year, without ground control or corner reflectors. Healthy peat rises and falls with the seasons ("bog breathing"), while degrading peat shows a net collapse.

The offering brings together four outputs: peat condition assessment; the Peatland Risk app, which detects peat mass movement in at-risk areas to support a full peat risk review; Trajectory of Peatland Motion, which tracks long-term motion trends for before-and-after comparisons and Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV); and Peatland Carbon Dynamics, which establishes a CO2-equivalence baseline and measures the effect of restoration. Terra Motion states that research by the University of Nottingham and the University of the Highlands and Islands confirms the approach can accurately classify peatland condition by satellite, as outlined in NatureScot's technical studies. In 2021 the company surveyed peatland across the UK and the Republic of Ireland using five years of Sentinel-1 radar data.