RMK employees find Estonia's tallest aspen tree 21.04
RMK employees discovered that the tallest aspen tree in Estonia is located in the village of Tiiu in Otepää parish, Valga County, and reaches over 43.2 metres in height. Located in Tartu County's Järveselja forest district, the tallest aspen previously stood at 41.6 metres tall.
"When I was analysing the data provided by the Land Board's areal laser scans, I found, to my surprise, that the sub-compartment's first front reached an average height of 45 metres," said RMK's remote sensing specialist Tauri Arumäe. Tõnis Leosk and Teele Paluots, appraisers sent to the site, confirmed the findings when their regular altimeter put the height of the larger aspens at over 43 metres.Involved in the measuring of the tree were Harli Jürgenson, a teaching track associate professor of geomatics from the Estonian University of Life Sciences, and Aive Liibusk, a tenure track associate professor, on the basis of whose methodology many of Estonia's tallest trees have received precise measurements. Estonia's tallest spruce (48.58 metres) and pine (46.4 metres) trees are located in Ootsipalu, Põlva County.
A total station determined the tree's official height to be 43.22 metres above ground. Harli Jürgenson, who conducted the measurements, said that the official measurements may be shorter by a dozen or so centimetres, due to poor visibility and the small size of the tree's top branches. This assessment was collaborated by other measuring methods. According to the point cloud compiled from the height data of a grounded 3D scanner, the tree is 43.68 metres above ground and the Land Board's areal laser scans assigned it a height of 43.5 metres.
"Taking into consideration the height of the tree's root crown – 27 centimetres off the ground – we can confidently say that the height of Estonia's tallest aspen is over 43 metres," said Arumäe. RMK's Forest Managers measured the tree's circumference at chest-height to be 49.4 centimetres. Sandra Metslaid, a dendrochronology scientist for the Estonian University of Life Sciences assessed the tree to be 93 years old according to its growth rings.
The location of the tallest aspen in the village of Tiiu in Valga County (compartment VL454, sub-compartment 19). Drawing: Tauri Arumäe.
Further information:
Tauri Arumäe
RMK Remote Sensing Specialist
+372 5663 0145
tauri.arumae@rmk.ee
Sille Ader
Head of RMK Communications Department
sille.ader@rmk.ee
+372 5666 5896
