Dr. Josef Kellndorfer, Senior Scientist, WHRC

Project: National Biomass and Carbon Dataset

In April 2011, the Woods Hole Research Center released the first hectare-scale maps of canopy height, aboveground biomass, and associated carbon stock for the forests and woodlands of the conterminous United States. The multi-year project, referred to as the National Biomass and Carbon Dataset (NBCD), produced maps of these key forest attributes at an unprecedented spatial resolution of 30 m. The dataset represents a comprehensive assessment of forest structure and carbon stock within the lower 48 States at the beginning of the third millennium, providing an important baseline with which to improve our understanding of the United States forest resources and its link to the terrestrial carbon flux in North America. The NBCD data set also fills a crucial gap in biodiversity science and will provide ecologists and land managers with new and better information to support biodiversity conservation, wildfire risk assessment, and timber production while helping climate scientists and others to better understand the role that U.S. forests play in the global carbon cycle.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Josef Kellndorfer
• WHRC
• Woods Hole Research Center
• NBCD
• biomass
• carbon stock
• carbon cycle