The increasing occurrence of droughts and the associated damage pose significant challenges for forestry. This makes it all the more important to provide up-to-date information on weather conditions and soil moisture. The forest climate stations associated with the Level-II sites can contribute to this.

Data on weather and soil moisture are processed at the federal state level for various target groups:

Bavaria: WKS Weather and Soil Moisture Report

Thuringia: Reports on Forest Soil Moisture & Drought Stress

Saxony: Soil Moisture Traffic Light

The data from intensive forest environmental monitoring can not only be used to assess how much water is available for the trees. They also help to analyze and assess the risk of abiotic and biotic consequential damage in forests affected by drought.

For the assessment of the water balance, high-resolution data on precipitation, soil moisture, and temperature is collected at forest climate stations. In addition, data on soil properties and vegetation are available for the Level II areas, which are also important for the assessment.