West, Tristram (Tris): DOE (Project Lead)
De La Torre Ugarte, Daniel: (Co-Investigator)
Larson, James: (Co-Investigator)
Marland, Gregg: Appalachian State University (Co-Investigator)
Tyler, Don: (Co-Investigator)
Hellwinkle, Chad: (Participant)
Wilson, Brad: (Participant)
Project Funding:
2005 - 2008
Funded by NASA
Abstract:
The overall purpose of this research is to develop a framework and modeling tool for estimating and monitoring changes in carbon stocks and net greenhouse gas emissions caused by changes in land use and land management. We are combining ongoing research at Oak Ridge National Laboratory on terrestrial carbon dynamics with current socioeconomic and land-use-change modeling at The University of Tennessee. This research focuses on feedbacks between carbon management options, economics, and land-use change. Integrating socioeconomic and biogeochemical dynamics is necessary to estimate how regional carbon sources and sinks will change in the future. The new modeling tool will be capable of estimating economic risks, costs, and profits associated with carbon management, and how these risks might be counterbalanced with economic incentives. Use of remote sensing imagery in our research will increase the spatial resolution of our estimates for terrestrial carbon and greenhouse gas fluxes. The proposed research focuses on soil carbon management options implemented on agricultural lands.
Expected results from this research include (i) the development of a full carbon and greenhouse gas accounting framework and modeling tool that utilizes existing data sets on cropping practices, soils, resource economics, and remotely sensed data on land cover and use; (ii) estimates and maps illustrating changes in land use, carbon sources and sinks, net C-equivalent flux to the atmosphere, and resource economics at the county level for U.S. agriculture; and (iii) empirical estimates of carbon and greenhouse gas emissions linked to estimates of land use at a 30-meter resolution. The modeling tool developed during this research can be used to simulate new and existing carbon management options on agricultural lands and to answer existing scientific and policy-relevant questions regarding terrestrial carbon management.
Publications:
Nelson, R. G., Hellwinckel, C. M., Brandt, C. C., West, T. O., De La Torre Ugarte, D. G., Marland, G. 2009. Energy Use and Carbon Dioxide Emissions from Cropland Production in the United States, 1990-2004. Journal of Environmental Quality. 38(2), 418-425. DOI: 10.2134/jeq2008.0262
West, T. O., Marland, G., Singh, N., Bhaduri, B. L., Roddy, A. B. 2009. The human carbon budget: an estimate of the spatial distribution of metabolic carbon consumption and release in the United States. Biogeochemistry. 94(1), 29-41. DOI: 10.1007/s10533-009-9306-z
West, T. O., Brandt, C. C., Wilson, B. S., Hellwinckel, C. M., Tyler, D. D., Marland, G., De La Torre Ugarte, D. G., Larson, J. A., Nelson, R. G. 2008. Estimating Regional Changes in Soil Carbon with High Spatial Resolution. Soil Science Society of America Journal. 72(2), 285-294. DOI: 10.2136/sssaj2007.0113
Hellwinckel, C.M. 2008. Estimating Potential Economic Net Carbon Flux from U.S. Agriculture Using a High-Resolution, Integrated, Socioeconomic-Biogeophysical Model. Ph.D. Dissertation. University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee.
More details may be found in the following project profile(s):
