--- title: "Peatlands and wetlands monitoring | Nexus Observatory" description: "Peatlands hold more carbon than all the world's forests, and they keep it only while they stay wet. Drained peat releases carbon and burns." url: https://observatory.global/industries/nature/peatlands-wetlands/ publisher: Nexus Observatory Inc. updated: 2026-11-02 --- [Nexus Observatory](https://observatory.global/) / [Nature](https://observatory.global/industries/nature/) / [Specialized fields](https://observatory.global/industries/nature/fields/) / **Peatlands and wetlands** # Wet peat keeps its carbon. Peatlands hold more carbon than all the world's forests, and they keep it only while they stay wet. Drained peat releases carbon and burns. Water table, soil and weather sensing across a peatland shows whether it is storing or losing carbon, and whether rewetting has worked. [Plan a deployment](https://observatory.global/contact/deployment/) How it works [Station Builder](https://observatory.global/studio/builder/) **Industry**: Nature **Measurements**: 4 **Sources cited**: 4 1. Nature · Peatlands and wetlands Carbon kept wet Peatlands hold more carbon than all the world's forests, and keep it only while they stay wet. Drained for farming or forestry, they release carbon year after year and can burn for months. Rewetting stops the loss, if the water table rises and stays up. 2. What is measured The water table, everywhere Water level loggers in dipwells along transects from ditches measure the water table across the site. Ground markers and reference points measure the peat surface sinking or rising, soil probes measure temperature and moisture, and a weather station measures rain and evaporation. InstrumentsDipwell loggers · Surface markers · Soil probes · Weather station 3. The base node Depth, area and emissions The node computes water table depth below the surface for each dipwell, maps the share of the site with water near the surface, estimates emissions with the inventory method and flags dry spells that raise the risk of peat fire, so managers see the whole site at once. 4. Radio and links Across a roadless bog Dipwells spread across a wet, roadless site reach one gateway over a long-range, low-power link, so no cables or vehicles cross the peat. The node sends data over cellular, available at most lowland sites, and loggers keep their own record if a link fails. LinksLoRaWAN · Public cellular 5. How it works From a blocked ditch to a rising water table In autumn, crews block the main drainage ditches. Through winter, dipwells along the transects show the water table rising toward the surface. In the next dry summer it holds near the top, emissions estimates fall, and the funder sees the restoration working. 6. From order to operation · Order Scope the site and the claim The scope reads the peatland or wetland, its drainage and restoration plan, protection status and any carbon programme it joins. Nexus Observatory Inc. returns the dipwell and station plan, the emissions method, reporting and a price per site and per year. [Plan a deployment](https://observatory.global/contact/deployment/) 7. From order to operation · Survey Survey ditches and transects Crews and ecologists map ditches, peat depth, vegetation and access, and lay out dipwell transects from ditches into the peat so the effect of blocking can be measured. Gateway and weather station sites are chosen for coverage. Every finding is kept with the site record for the crews who follow. 8. From order to operation · Permits Protected site consent Many peatlands and wetlands are protected; work is approved by the conservation authority, timed around breeding birds, and kept to boardwalks where the surface is fragile. Every consent is kept with the site record. Approvals are tracked site by site, so nothing waits unseen. 9. From order to operation · Build Build and pair Water level loggers are calibrated, soil probes prepared, radios paired, and the gateway, weather station and node configured and enrolled with their identities. The kit runs together before it ships. Test results travel with the kit to the site. Nothing ships until the whole kit has passed its tests together. [Open the Station Builder](https://observatory.global/studio/builder/) 10. From order to operation · Install Install dipwells Crews install dipwells along transects, fit loggers, bury soil probes, set ground markers, raise the gateway and weather station and connect solar power. Every dipwell is surveyed to the peat surface and photographed. The site record is updated before the crew leaves. 11. From order to operation · Commission Commission against manual dips Each node proves its identity. Logger readings are checked against manual dips, surface heights against a level survey, and the first weeks of data against rainfall. The baseline before rewetting is recorded. Results are signed and kept with the site record. 12. From order to operation · Operate Show the water table Managers see water table depth across the site, the share near the surface and emissions estimates. After ditches are blocked, the record shows whether water rose and stayed up through dry summers, and fire risk is flagged in drought. Reports for owners and funders come from the same record. 13. From order to operation · Maintain Check, dip and report Crews check loggers against manual dips on scheduled visits, swap batteries, resurvey ground markers each year, and update software in rings. Annual reports show water table, subsidence and emissions against the baseline. Spares and procedures travel with the crews. Maintenance history stays with each site for its whole life. [Book field services](https://observatory.global/contact/field-service/) 14. Data products For managers, funders and programmes Site managers and ecologists receive water table maps; carbon programmes and inventory agencies receive emissions estimates; funders and conservation authorities receive restoration evidence; land managers and fire services receive dry spell and fire risk alerts, each tied to site, dipwell and date. [See the data products](https://observatory.global/data-products/) 15. Evidence Inventory methods, protected sites Emissions follow the wetlands supplement to the inventory guidelines, driven by measured water table, protected sites are reported under the Ramsar Convention, soil variables follow the global observing plan and weather the instrument guide. Every reading keeps its calibration and dip check. Drawn against2013 Supplement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines · Ramsar Convention · GCOS-244 · WMO-No. 8 16. What you get Biodiversity and habitat monitoring Acoustic sensors, camera traps that exclude people, eDNA sampling logistics and EO habitat change for nature programmes and disclosures. Delivered as managed service and data licence, for conservation programmes, corporates, lenders, agencies. Scale: Landscape scale. Service levels are written as numbers you can measure on your own dashboard. [Talk to sales](https://observatory.global/contact/sales-enquiry/) 17. Next step Plan peatlands and wetlands with us Tell us the site, the measurements and the rules it answers to. We reply with a survey proposal, a design and a scope for peatlands and wetlands. An engineer replies with a survey proposal and a scope, and the plan grows from one site to the network you need, at your pace. [Plan a deployment](https://observatory.global/contact/deployment/) [Open the Station Builder](https://observatory.global/studio/builder/) [Open the Studio](https://observatory.global/studio/) **01** The place and its hazards ## Where it runs, and what can go wrong. Operating contextWetlands of international importance are protected under the Ramsar Convention, and greenhouse gas emissions from drained and rewetted organic soils are estimated with the wetlands supplement to the inventory guidelines, where water table depth is a key driver. Restoration programmes need evidence that the water table has risen and stays up. Hazards - Drainage ditches that keep peat dry and losing carbon - Peat fires that burn for months - Rewetting that fails in dry summers - Subsidence that lowers the land year after year - Carbon claims without ground evidence **02** What must be measured ## What, where, how often, and under which rules. Each measurement names where it is taken, how often, and the public standard or regulation behind it. Numbers in the sources column open the cited source below. | Measurement | Where | Cadence | Sources | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Water table depth | Dipwells across the peatland and transects from ditches | Hourly | 12 | | Peat surface height and subsidence | Ground markers and GNSS on reference points | Daily to monthly | 1 | | Soil temperature and moisture | Profiles in the peat | Hourly | 13 | | Rainfall and evaporation drivers | A weather station on the site | Every few minutes | 4 | **03** The observation stack ## From one base unit to a network. The same blocks at every scale: instruments and a base node, a site with its radio, a fleet run as one, and a network federated on the open protocol. 1. **01** Base unit A point: a water level logger in a dipwell or soil probes on a low-power radio. [Build a station →](https://observatory.global/studio/builder/) 2. **02** Site A site: points across the peatland, a weather station, a gateway and node with solar power. [Plan a site →](https://observatory.global/contact/deployment/) 3. **03** Fleet Many peatlands and wetlands of a programme or agency on one view. [Managed offers →](https://observatory.global/industries/nature/solutions/) 4. **04** Network Programmes, agencies and carbon standards share water table and emissions records through open standards. [The open protocol →](https://observatory.global/protocol/) - **01** Water level gauge - **02** Soil probe - **03** Compact weather station - **04** LPWAN endpoint - **05** LoRaWAN gateway - **06** Micro node (Nano) - **07** Cellular modem/router - **08** Solar array - **09** Pole Radio and links ### LoRaWAN Dipwells spread across a wet, roadless site reach one gateway over a long-range, low-power link. Radio and links ### Public cellular The node sends data over cellular, available at most lowland sites. Edge computeThe node computes water table depth below the surface for every dipwell, maps the share of the site with water near the surface, estimates emissions with the inventory method and flags dry spells that risk fire. PowerDipwell loggers run on batteries for years; the gateway and node run on solar with batteries. **04** How it works ## From the instrument to the product. One observation's path, tier by tier, with the interface on every link and a bill of materials below; then how the one node grows to a site, a fleet and federated networks. Peatlands and wetlands: data path – of 08 01 Instruments Measurement with sensor identity andcalibration 02 Field radio 03 Gateway 04 Node – Wrap in an observation envelope with timequality– Measure quality and uncertainty, attachquality flags– Buffer locally (store-and-forward when thelink drops) 05 Backhaul Commit with transactional outbox andpublish, delivered at least once 06 Site Consumer inbox deduplicates and applieseach record once into governed data 07 Data store Governed product through API, map orexport, correction-aware 08 Products OGC SensorThings APIGeoJSONLoRaWAN 09 Power and structure Supplies 12 V DC to the field equipment 01 Water level gauge SDI-12 · RS-485 · Ethernet 02 Soil probe SDI-12 · RS-485 · Ethernet 03 Compact weather station SDI-12 · RS-485 · Ethernet 04 LPWAN endpoint Analogue I/O · SDI-12 · RS-485 05 LoRaWAN gateway Ethernet · RF · GNSS antenna 06 Micro node (Nano) Ethernet · USB · Analogue I/O ·RS-485 · CAN 07 Cellular modem/router Ethernet · USB · RS-232 Site MQTT 5 with Sparkplug B Governed data store Versioned, correction-aware Water table maps Emissions estimates Restoration evidence Dry spell and fire risk alerts 08 Solar array RS-485 09 Pole SDI-12 SDI-12 SDI-12 LoRaWAN Ethernet Ethernet LTE/NR From the instrument to the published product: each band is a tier, each connector names its interface, and the numbers match the bill of materials. Hover or focus a block to trace its path; scroll or step to follow one observation. | Item | Equipment | Data ports | Protocols | Power in | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 01 | **Water level gauge** Radar, pressure or float gauge for river, lake, reservoir or tide level. | SDI-12RS-485Ethernet | SDI-12, Modbus, MQTT 5, OGC SensorThings API | 12 V DC | | 02 | **Soil probe** Probe for volumetric soil moisture, temperature and conductivity at one or more depths. | SDI-12RS-485Ethernet | SDI-12, Modbus, MQTT 5, OGC SensorThings API | 12 V DC | | 03 | **Compact weather station** All-in-one or compact station for temperature, humidity, pressure, wind and rain at a site. | SDI-12RS-485Ethernet | SDI-12, Modbus, MQTT 5, OGC SensorThings API | 12 V DC | | 04 | **LPWAN endpoint** Battery-powered endpoint on LoRaWAN, NB-IoT or LTE-M that carries one or more sensors. | Analogue I/OSDI-12RS-485 | LoRaWAN, OMA LwM2M, CoAP | Internal battery, Energy harvesting | | 05 | **LoRaWAN gateway** Multi-channel LoRaWAN gateway that forwards uplinks to a network server and schedules downlinks within duty limits. | EthernetRFGNSS antenna | LoRaWAN, MQTT 5 | PoE, 12 V DC | | 06 | **Micro node (Nano)** Single-board or module-class node for sensor sites, gateways and low-power deployments. | EthernetUSBAnalogue I/ORS-485CAN | MQTT 5, OMA LwM2M, CoAP | PoE, 12 V DC, USB PD | | 07 | **Cellular modem/router** LTE or NR modem or router that uses a public carrier or private network as backhaul. | EthernetUSBRS-232 | 3GPP E-UTRA air interface, 3GPP NR air interface, OMA LwM2M | 12 V DC, PoE | | 08 | **Solar array** PV modules with charge controller sized to the site's load and climate. | RS-485 | Modbus | — | | 09 | **Pole** Utility, street or dedicated pole with clamp positions. | — | — | — | How it scales 01 Instruments Arbitrary qualified sensors and instruments whosemeasurements are ingested with calibration, units,geometry, time, custody and uncertainty. ×n 02 Node The minimum useful deployable unit: server, ruggedappliance, radio node, sensor gateway, satelliteterminal, AI, scientific, vehicle or virtual node. Node Node agent 03 Site The minimum independently operable localgovernance and failure domain: one or more nodesplus local network, identity, policy, evidence,storage, products and operator surfaces. SITE Node Node Node ×n 04 Cluster An optional scale or specialisation domain forscheduling, shared storage, accelerators or datalocality. CLUSTER ×n 05 Fleet Coordinates plans, acknowledgements,convergence evidence, update campaigns andcorrection propagation across nodes and sites. FLEET Fleet controller ×n 06 Federation An exchange of products, capabilities, events orwork across approved, independently administeredtrust domains, using explicit trust, policy,data-locality, version and correction contracts. TRUST DOMAIN TRUST DOMAIN TRUST DOMAIN ×n Verifier Applications Data in the field Telemetry Control Data upstream Control Data upstream Control Exchange Evidence Events Exchange The smallest deployable unit is one node; the same unit is replicated to meet the demand. Nodes form a site, sites may form a cluster, sites and clusters are coordinated as a fleet, and fleets exchange across independently administered trust domains. Each plane is a separate channel with its own open binding. **Data in the field**: MQTT 5 with Sparkplug B; connectors for LoRaWAN, OPC UA and instrument buses. **Telemetry**: OpenTelemetry OTLP. **Control**: TLS 1.3 with mutual authentication; protobuf messages over gRPC or HTTP/2. **Data upstream**: At-least-once publication with repeat-safe keys over the control channel or NATS JetStream; QUIC MAY be used on lossy links. **Evidence**: DSSE-signed in-toto statements; SLSA provenance; SCITT transparency receipts. **Events**: Event envelopes mapped to CloudEvents 1.0; channels described in AsyncAPI 3. **Exchange**: OpenAPI 3.1; the OGC API family; SensorThings; STAC; WIS 2.0. **05** From order to operation ## Every step, from the first call to a running site. The same crew and the same record carry the work from scope to maintenance. 1. 01 Order Scope the site and the claim The scope reads the peatland or wetland, its drainage and restoration plan, protection status and any carbon programme it joins. Nexus Observatory Inc. returns the dipwell and station plan, the emissions method, reporting and a price per site and per year. 1 2. 02 Survey Survey ditches and transects Crews and ecologists map ditches, peat depth, vegetation and access, and lay out dipwell transects from ditches into the peat so the effect of blocking can be measured. Gateway and weather station sites are chosen for coverage. Every finding is kept with the site record for the crews who follow. 3. 03 Permits Protected site consent Many peatlands and wetlands are protected; work is approved by the conservation authority, timed around breeding birds, and kept to boardwalks where the surface is fragile. Every consent is kept with the site record. Approvals are tracked site by site, so nothing waits unseen. 2 4. 04 Build Build and pair Water level loggers are calibrated, soil probes prepared, radios paired, and the gateway, weather station and node configured and enrolled with their identities. The kit runs together before it ships. Test results travel with the kit to the site. Nothing ships until the whole kit has passed its tests together. 5. 05 Install Install dipwells Crews install dipwells along transects, fit loggers, bury soil probes, set ground markers, raise the gateway and weather station and connect solar power. Every dipwell is surveyed to the peat surface and photographed. The site record is updated before the crew leaves. 6. 06 Commission Commission against manual dips Each node proves its identity. Logger readings are checked against manual dips, surface heights against a level survey, and the first weeks of data against rainfall. The baseline before rewetting is recorded. Results are signed and kept with the site record. 1 7. 07 Operate Show the water table Managers see water table depth across the site, the share near the surface and emissions estimates. After ditches are blocked, the record shows whether water rose and stayed up through dry summers, and fire risk is flagged in drought. Reports for owners and funders come from the same record. 12 8. 08 Maintain Check, dip and report Crews check loggers against manual dips on scheduled visits, swap batteries, resurvey ground markers each year, and update software in rings. Annual reports show water table, subsidence and emissions against the baseline. Spares and procedures travel with the crews. Maintenance history stays with each site for its whole life. **06** Data products and integration ## What it delivers, to whom, and into which systems. Data products - **Water table maps** Site managers and ecologists - **Emissions estimates** Carbon programmes and inventory agencies - **Restoration evidence** Funders and conservation authorities - **Dry spell and fire risk alerts** Land managers and fire services Integration - **Carbon programmes** Water table and emissions records support verification. - **Conservation authority** Records support reporting on protected sites. - **Fire services** Fire risk alerts reach services in dry spells. Exchanged through OGC SensorThings API, GeoJSON, LoRaWAN. **07** Questions buyers ask ## Before you scope it. Can it prove rewetting worked? Yes. The baseline and the record after blocking show it. How are emissions estimated? With the inventory method driven by measured water table. Will equipment damage the peat? Work stays on boardwalks and dipwells are small. How long do loggers last? Years on their batteries, checked on visits. **08** Resources ## The sources behind this page. Public standards, regulations and guidance, cited where they apply. Each applies only where its jurisdiction or scope does. 1. **1** [2013 Supplement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories: Wetlands](https://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/) Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change · 2014 2. **2** [Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar Convention)](https://www.ramsar.org/) Ramsar Convention Secretariat · 1971 3. **3** [GCOS-244: The 2022 GCOS Implementation Plan](https://gcos.wmo.int/) Global Climate Observing System · 2022 4. **4** [WMO-No. 8: Guide to Instruments and Methods of Observation](https://library.wmo.int/) World Meteorological Organization **09** Related ## Use cases and solutions. 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