Forest biomass is an essential indicator for monitoring the Earth’s ecosystems and climate. It is a critical input to greenhouse gas accounting, estimation of carbon losses and forest degradation, assessment of renewable energy potential, and for developing climate change mitigation policies such as REDD+, among others. Wall-to-wall mapping of aboveground biomass (AGB) is now possible with satellite remote sensing (RS). However, RS methods require extant, up-to-date, reliable, representative and comparable in situ data for calibration and validation. Here, we present the Forest Observation System (FOS) initiative, an international cooperation to establish and maintain a global in situ forest biomass database. AGB and canopy height estimates with their associated uncertainties are derived at a 0.25 ha scale from field measurements made in permanent research plots across the world’s forests. All plot estimates are geolocated and have a size that allows for direct comparison with many RS measurements. The FOS offers the potential to improve the accuracy of RS-based biomass products while developing new synergies between the RS and ground-based ecosystem research communities.

Abstract-An automated information system making it possible to estimate spatial distribution of soil organic carbon pool with a high spatial resolution (1 km) has been developed. According to the obtained estimates, the total pool of organic carbon in the 1-m-deep soil layer on the territory of Russia reaches 317.1 Pg; the average organic carbon density in this layer for the entire Russia constitutes 19.2 kg C/m 2 . Of this amount, 14.4 Pg (or 0.90 kg C/m 2 ) is stored in the litter horizon. The developed algorithm allows us to refine the results with the acquisition of new data on soils, vegetation, and the degree of their disturbance, which is particularly important in the changing world.

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