SMHI Timbr is a digital service (planning tool) designed for the harvesting manager, which helps to understand if the ground in each harvesting site will be able to carry forest machinery without causing any ground damage. The product aims to streamline harvesting and spare the woodland.
The product is based of the ground conditions
Changes in our climate - shorter winters and more extreme weather, cause the forest conditions to change rapidly. It also contributes to the fact that, as before, it was a clear decision to plan felling, today it is not.
SMHI Timbr is based on SMHI's hydrological forecasts and the product's index of bouyancy is based on hydrological forecasts describing the water's path through the ground. The hydrological basic forecasts are continuously developed by SMHI's hydrology researchers. For SMHI Timbr, we process these together with other data sets in order to respond better to how the land is wearing.
SMHI Timbr tells how the forest's land is in the coming month, which facilitates planning work for deforestation. With unique processing of large amounts of data, SMHI creates a high-resolution month-long predictions of ground bearing capacity. Climate change makes it difficult for experienced harvesting managers because it makes ground buoyancy harder to predict.
Current status
Currently, several forest companies are testing the product and if you are interested about SMHI Timbr, it is available for Sweden at the moment.
The product was launched in conjunction with Elmia Wood in June, 2017, where SMHI was participating.