THE FOREST, AND MILITARY ASPECTS OF A TERRAIN – FOREST HEIGHT, CANOPY COVER AND VISIBILITY IN ESTONIA

Abstract

Most military activities need good concealment from a top down view, i.e. from surveillance carried out by flying assets 1. On the one hand, well hidden positions and sites are to be expected in forested areas. However, depending on the height of the trees and crown parameters as well as the tree species’ composition, the concealing effect can be rather different. Even large scale maps used by mili tary terrain analysts do not give detailed information that would help do estimate concealment in a particular forested area, and certain map sheets can be outdated. Useful information about Estonian forest stands can be found in the forest manage ment inventory database. However, the purpose of this database is to support forest management; therefore, it does not directly contribute to the planning of military operations. Still, a sufficiently high precision—temporal and spatial—makes it a very useful source for military terrain operation planning. On the whole, there is a need to define some general rules for analysts that can be used for interpreting forest inven tory data. The aim of this paper is to discuss forest parameters that determine vertical concealment. In addition, the article includes some basic tables, relationships and a conclusion about the concealing effect of Estonian forest.