Summer drought 2018: Rewetted peatland in need of some wetness

Polder Zarnekow, a Fluxnet site (DE-Zrk), is a former flow-through fen in the NE German Peene River Valley that has been extensively drained and used in the 19th and early 20th century, followed by intensive grassland use in the second half of the 20th century, which resulted in heavy peat degradation and subsidence. The site was rewetted by inundation in 2004/2005 and is highly dynamic in terms of greenhouse gas fluxes, vegetation development and change, as well as water level fluctuations. The 2018 drought lead to complete drying of the shallow lake and triggered a massive expansion of the surrounding vegetation into the formerly open water body as well as a change in the sign of the cumulative annual CO2 fluxes. The visible 30 m section of the boardwalk reaching into the center of the image was entirely within the open water area just two growing seasons before this picture was taken.