Harvested area did not increase abruptly-how advancements in satellite-based mapping led to erroneous conclusions

Key message: Using satellite-based maps, Ceccherini et al. (Nature 583:72-77, 2020) report abruptly increasing harvested area estimates in several EU countries beginning in 2015. Using more than 120,000 National Forest Inventory observations to analyze the satellite-based map, we show that it is not harvested area but the map's ability to detect harvested areas that abruptly increases after 2015 in Finland and Sweden.

Automated summary

Using satellite-based maps and National Forest Inventory observations, this study finds that the ability of the maps to detect harvested areas abruptly increased after 2015 in Finland and Sweden, rather than the actual harvested area.