The New Forest Carbon Accounting Framework of the US and NASA Carbon Cycle Science: Identifying Concomitant Knowledge Gaps and Research Opportunities

Sean P Healey, USDA Forest Service, seanhealey@fs.fed.us (Presenter)
Christopher W. Woodall, USDA Forest Service, cwoodall@fs.fed.us
Grant M Domke, USDA Forest Service, gmdomke@fs.fed.us
John Coulston, USDA Forest Service, jcoulston@fs.fed.us
Brian F Walters, USDA Forest Service, bfwalters@fs.fed.us
James A Smith, USDA Forest Service, jsmith11@fs.fed.us
Andy Gray, USDA Forest Service, agray01@fs.fed.us

A national system of field inventory plots (FIA) is the primary data source for the annual assessment of US forest carbon (C) stocks and stock-change to meet reporting requirements under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The inventory data and their role in national carbon reporting continue to evolve. The framework of the previous C accounting system (up through 2015) was developed more than a decade ago when FIA’s annual inventory system was just being implemented and contemporary questions regarding the terrestrial C sink (e.g., attribution) did not exist. The time has come to develop a new framework that can quickly address new questions, enables C analytics, and uses all the inventory information (e.g., disturbances and land use change) while having the flexibility to engage a wider breadth of stakeholders and partner agencies. The current and future status of the science and framework of the US’ official C inventory will be discussed in the context of knowledge gaps relevant to NASA carbon cycle science with opportunities for potential alignment.

Presentation Type:  Poster

Session:  Carbon Monitoring System (CMS) Posters   (Mon 1:30 PM)

Associated Project(s): 

• Healey, Sean: A Global Forest Biomass Inventory Based upon GLAS Lidar Data ...details
• Healey, Sean: Installation of a Carbon Monitoring and Management Support Tool for the National Forest System ...details
• Saatchi, Sassan: Prototyping MRV Systems Based on Systematic and Spatial Estimates of Carbon Stock and Stock Changes of Forestlands ...details

Poster Location ID: 153