The National Biomass and Carbon Dataset 2000 (NBCD 2000): A High Spatial Resolution Baseline to Reduce Uncertainty in Carbon Accounting and Flux Modeling
Josef
Kellndorfer, The Woods Hole Research Center, josefk@whrc.org
(Presenting)
Wayne
Walker, The Woods Hole Research Center, wwalker@whrc.org
Elizabeth
LaPoint, USDA Forest Service, FIA Program, elapoint@fs.usda.gov
Michael
Hoppus, USDA Forest Service, FIA Program, mhoppus@fs.usda.gov
James
Westfall, USDA Forest Service, FIA Program, jwestfall@fs.usda.gov
A major goal of the North American Carbon Program (NACP) is to develop a quantitative scientific basis for regional to continental scale carbon accounting to reduce uncertainties about the carbon cycle component of the climate system. Given the highly complementary nature and quasi-synchronous data acquisition of the 2000 Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) and the Landsat-based 2001 National Land Cover Database (NLCD 2001), an exceptional opportunity exists for exploiting data synergies afforded by the fusion of these high-resolution data sources. Whereas the thematic layers of the NLCD are suitable for characterizing horizontal structure (i.e., cover type, canopy density, etc.), SRTM provides information relating to the vertical structure, i.e., primarily vegetation height. In the NBCD2000 initiative, data are analyzed in 60 ecologically diverse regions, identical to the NLCD 2001 “mapping zones”, which cover the entire conterminous United States. Within each mapping zone data from the space shuttle are combined with topographic survey data from the NED to form a radar-measured vegetation height map. Subsequently, this map is converted to estimates of actual vegetation height, biomass, and carbon stock using survey data from the U.S. Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program and derived biomass data, as well as ancillary data sets from the NLCD2001 project. In this poster first results from mapping zones in the interior west and eastern forests are presented.