The Importance of Land Cover Planning on Climatic Events: Evaluation of Peatlands’ Buffer Impact on Terceira and Flores Islands (Azores, Portugal)

Abstract

AbstractThe objective is to estimate the actual and potential hydrological services provided by the peatlands of Flores and Terceira islands. Peatlands were identified through the distribution of Sphagnum, obtained by a spectral signature from satellite image analysis. The results show an actual distribution of natural peatlands of 2766 and 2414 ha, for Terceira and Flores, respectively, which are, even so, quite lower than the potential area estimated as 8035 and 5231 ha, correspondingly. Nowadays, these peatlands have the ability to retain 72,438,317 m3 of water. Theoretically, if all peatlands were in the natural state, this capacity would increase to 300% of the retained water. The amelioration of naturalness would increase these ecosystems’ ability to act better as a buffer in extreme climate events.KeywordsNaturalnessSpectral signature Sphagnum Water retention