American Geophysical Union Become an AGU Member
Subscribe to AGU Journals		 AGU Home AGU Publications

Print Version (185906 bytes)

EOS, TRANSACTIONS AMERICAN GEOPHYSICAL UNION, VOL. 89, NO. 43, doi:10.1029/2008EO430001, 2008

New Satellites Help Quantify Carbon Sources and Sinks

R. A. Houghton

Woods Hole Research Center, Falmouth, Mass., USA


S. J. Goetz

Woods Hole Research Center, Falmouth, Mass., USA


Abstract

Deforestation and forest degradation account for between 7% and 30% of total anthropogenic carbon emissions [Canadell et al., 2007; Denman et al., 2007]. This wide range of values results from three major uncertainties: rates of deforestation, carbon stocks (biomass and soils) in forests prior to deforestation, and changes in carbon stocks within forests (i.e., both increases from growth and decreases from degradation). Historically, rates of deforestation and reforestation, together with estimates of forest biomass, have been used to calculate the net flux of carbon between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere [Woodwell et al., 1983; Detwiler and Hall, 1988; Hall and Uhlig, 1991; Fearnside, 2000; DeFries et al., 2002; Achard et al., 2004; Houghton, 2003]. This net flux is the difference between the sinks of carbon in growing and recovering forests and the sources from burning and decay associated with deforestation. Satellite imagery, particularly from Landsat, has long been used to sample deforestation rates [DeFries et al., 2002; Achard et al., 2004; Skole and Tucker, 1993; Hansen et al., 2008]. Obtaining estimates of biomass, reforestation, and forest growth and degradation, however, has proven more difficult.

Published 21 October 2008.

Index Terms: 0439 Biogeosciences: Ecosystems, structure and dynamics (4815); 0428 Biogeosciences: Carbon cycling (4806); 1632 Global Change: Land cover change.

Print Version (185906 bytes)

Citation: Houghton, R. A., and S. J. Goetz (2008), New Satellites Help Quantify Carbon Sources and Sinks, Eos Trans. AGU, 89(43), doi:10.1029/2008EO430001.