Forest biomass is an essential indicator for monitoring the Earth’s ecosystems and climate. It is a critical input to greenhouse gas accounting, estimation of carbon losses and forest degradation, assessment of renewable energy potential, and for developing climate change mitigation policies such as REDD+, among others. Wall-to-wall mapping of aboveground biomass (AGB) is now possible with satellite remote sensing (RS). However, RS methods require extant, up-to-date, reliable, representative and comparable in situ data for calibration and validation. Here, we present the Forest Observation System (FOS) initiative, an international cooperation to establish and maintain a global in situ forest biomass database. AGB and canopy height estimates with their associated uncertainties are derived at a 0.25 ha scale from field measurements made in permanent research plots across the world’s forests. All plot estimates are geolocated and have a size that allows for direct comparison with many RS measurements. The FOS offers the potential to improve the accuracy of RS-based biomass products while developing new synergies between the RS and ground-based ecosystem research communities.
Spatially explicit information on forest management at a global scale is critical for understanding the status of forests, for planning sustainable forest management and restoration, and conservation activities. Here, we produce the first reference data set and a prototype of a globally consistent forest management map with high spatial detail on the most prevalent forest management classes such as intact forests, managed forests with natural regeneration, planted forests, plantation forest (rotation up to 15 years), oil palm plantations, and agroforestry. We developed the reference dataset of 226 K unique locations through a series of expert and crowdsourcing campaigns using Geo-Wiki (https://www.geo-wiki.org/). We then combined the reference samples with time series from PROBA-V satellite imagery to create a global wall-to-wall map of forest management at a 100 m resolution for the year 2015, with forest management class accuracies ranging from 58% to 80%. The reference data set and the map present the status of forest ecosystems and can be used for investigating the value of forests for species, ecosystems and their services.
Siberian forests are generally thought to have acted as an important carbon sink over recent decades, but exposure to severe droughts and fire disturbances may have impacted their carbon dynamics. Limited available forest inventories mean the carbon balance remains uncertain.Here we analyse annual live and dead above-ground carbon changes derived from low-frequency passive microwave observations from 2010 to 2019. We find that during this period, the carbon balance of Siberian forests was close to neutral, with the forests acting as a small carbon sink of +0.02 +0.01 +0.03 PgC yr −1 . Carbon storage in dead wood increased, but this was largely offset by a decrease in live biomass. Substantial losses of live above-ground carbon are attributed to fire and drought, such as the widespread fires in northern Siberia in 2012 and extreme drought in eastern Siberia in 2015. These live above-ground carbon losses contrast with 'greening' trends seen in leaf area index over the same period, a decoupling explained by faster post-disturbance recovery of leaf area than live above-ground carbon. Our study highlights the vulnerability of large forest carbon stores in Siberia to climate-induced disturbances, challenging the persistence of the carbon sink in this region of the globe.
Abstract-An automated information system making it possible to estimate spatial distribution of soil organic carbon pool with a high spatial resolution (1 km) has been developed. According to the obtained estimates, the total pool of organic carbon in the 1-m-deep soil layer on the territory of Russia reaches 317.1 Pg; the average organic carbon density in this layer for the entire Russia constitutes 19.2 kg C/m 2 . Of this amount, 14.4 Pg (or 0.90 kg C/m 2 ) is stored in the litter horizon. The developed algorithm allows us to refine the results with the acquisition of new data on soils, vegetation, and the degree of their disturbance, which is particularly important in the changing world.
The flux of CO2 from the soil to the atmosphere -soil respiration (RS), is one of the least known components of the terrestrial carbon cycle. RS depends on many factors and varies substantially in time and space. High uncertainty of RS flux valuation leads to a wide range of reported carbon budget estimates for Russian forests. We developed a modeling system for assessing soil carbon stock and heterotrophic soil respiration based on a possible maximum of relevant input indicators. The most comprehensive databases of RS in situ measurements focused on Northern Eurasia (780 records for the region) has been used. A statistical model for assessing RS of Russian forests and its separation in autotrophic and heterotrophic parts were elaborated based on in situ measurements, climate parameters, soil and land cover datasets. The spatial resolution of the model is 1 km 2 . Russian forest soil accumulated 144.5 Pg C (or 17.6 kg C m -2 ) in 1 m depth, including 8.3 Pg C (or 1.0 kg C m -2 ) in the labile topsoil organic layer. The total heterotrophic soil respiration (RH) flux for the Russian forest is estimated at 1.7 Pg C yr -1 (206 g C m -2 yr -1 ) that comprises 65% of Net Primary Production (NPP) and together with NPP is one of two major components of the net ecosystem carbon balance comprising on average 546 Tg C yr -1 (66 g C m -2 yr -1 ) for 2007. Interannual variability or RH in 1996 was estimated at 4.1% for forests of the whole country and typically from 5-11% for large individual regions with an average linear trend +0.2% per year. The uncertainty of annual average of RH was estimated at 8% (confidential interval 0.9).
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