Annual fluxes of carbon from deforestation and regrowth in the Brazilian Amazon

Houghton, Richard A.; Skole, David L.; Nobre, Carlos A.; Hackler, J. L.; Lawrence, K. T.; Chomentowski, Walter

doi:10.1038/35002062

Cited by 635 publications

(568 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…No such ideal circumstance would exist if one were monitoring regional biomass over time, since the input data would certainly change between t1 and t2. The 7% difference amounts to, in Québec, a model-induced difference of 0.35 Gt of biomass, or 0.18 Gt of carbon, assuming a conversion factor of 0.5 t C per 1 t dry biomass (Gower et al 1997, Houghton et al 2000. None of the models are significantly different from any of the others at the 95% level of confidence.…”

Section: Digital Vegetation Zone Map Of Québec (Mrnfpq 2003) An Ecozmentioning

confidence: 99%

Model effects on GLAS-based regional estimates of forest biomass and carbon

Nelson

2010

International Journal of Remote Sensing

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Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) / Geosciences Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) waveform data are used to estimate biomass and carbon on a 1.27 Â 10 6 km 2 study area in the Province of Québec, Canada, below the tree line. The same input datasets and sampling design are used in conjunction with four different predictive models to estimate total aboveground dry forest biomass and forest carbon. The four models include non-stratified and stratified versions of a multiple linear model where either biomass or (biomass) 0.5 serves as the dependent variable. The use of different models in Québec introduces differences in Provincial dry biomass estimates of up to 0.35 G, with a range of 4.94 AE 0.28 Gt to 5.29 AE 0.36 Gt. The differences among model estimates are statistically non-significant, however, and the results demonstrate the degree to which carbon estimates vary strictly as a function of the model used to estimate regional biomass. Results also indicate that GLAS measurements become problematic with respect to height and biomass retrievals in the boreal forest when biomass values fall below 20 t ha -1 and when GLAS 75th percentile heights fall below 7 m.

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Section: Digital Vegetation Zone Map Of Québec (Mrnfpq 2003) An Ecozmentioning

confidence: 99%

Model effects on GLAS-based regional estimates of forest biomass and carbon

Nelson

2010

International Journal of Remote Sensing

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“…Land-use changes have a myriad of socio-economic, and regional climatic impacts but we are only concerned here by their consequences on the perturbation of the carbon cycle. In contrast to fossil fuel emissions which are inventoried by energy statistics with an accuracy of about 10%, today's estimates of land-use induced carbon fluxes to the atmosphere are subject to large uncertainties [Houghton et al, 2000]. First, there is an uncertainty on the area extent of land-use and land cover changes [Houghton, 1999;Skole and Tucker, 1993].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Amplifying effects of land‐use change on future atmospheric CO₂ levels

Gitz

Ciais

2003

Global Biogeochemical Cycles

103

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[1] We constructed a model to analyze the interactions between land-use change and atmospheric CO 2 during the recent past and for the future. The primary impact of the conversion of forested lands to cultivated lands is to increase atmospheric CO 2 , via losses of biomass and soil carbon to the atmosphere. This increase is likely to continue in the next decades, but its magnitude can vary according to each land-use scenario. We show that this first-order effect is further amplified by the correlated diminution of terrestrial sinks, because when croplands replace forests, the turnover time of excess carbon in the biosphere decreases, and hence the sink capacity of terrestrial ecosystems decreases. This effect acts to further increase by up to 100 ppm the CO 2 level reached by 2100, and it is of the same order of magnitude, although smaller, than climate-carbon feedbacks. Uncertainties on the magnitude of this land-use induced effect are large, because of uncertainties in the sink role of terrestrial ecosystems in the future and because of uncertainties inherent to the modeling of land-use induced carbon emissions. Such an extra rise in atmospheric CO 2 is however partially offset by the ocean reservoir and by sinks operating over undisturbed, pristine ecosystems, suggesting that conserving pristine forests with long turnover times might be efficient in mitigating the greenhouse effect. Citation: Gitz, V., and P. Ciais, Amplifying effects of land-use change on future atmospheric CO 2 levels, Global Biogeochem.

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“…Because of the large carbon (C) pools and fluxes in this region, much attention has focused on the effects of land use on Amazon forest cover and C storage [Houghton et al, 2000], and on the potential feedbacks to regional and global climate [Shukla et al, 1990]. The role of climate in modulating interannual variability of Amazon forest phenology and NPP has received little attention until recently, yet this variation may be significant from both climatological and ecological perspectives.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Satellite observation of El Niño effects on Amazon Forest phenology and productivity

Asner¹,

Townsend²,

Braswell³

2000

Geophysical Research Letters

149

111

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Abstract. Climate variability may affect the functioning of Amazon moist tropical forests, and recent modeling analyses suggest that the carbon dynamics of the region vary interannually in response to precipitation and temperature anomalies. However, due to persistent orbital and atmospheric artifacts in the satellite record, remote sensing observations have not provided quantitative evidence that climate variation affects Amazon forest phenology or productivity. We developed a method to minimize and quantify non-biological artifacts in NOAA AVHRR satellite data, providing a record of estimated forest phenological variation from 1982-1993. The seasonal NDVI amplitude (a proxy for phenology) increased throughout much of the basin during El Nifio periods when rainfall was anomalously low. Wetter La Nifia episodes brought consistently smaller NDVI amplitudes. Using radiative transfer and terrestrial biogeochemical models driven by these satellite data, we estimate that canopy energy absorption and net primary production of Amazon forests varied interannually by as much as 21% and 18%, respectively. These results provide large-scale observational evidence for interannual sensitivity to El Nifio of plant phenology and carbon flux in Amazon forests.

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Annual fluxes of carbon from deforestation and regrowth in the Brazilian Amazon

Cited by 635 publications

References 26 publications

Model effects on GLAS-based regional estimates of forest biomass and carbon

Model effects on GLAS-based regional estimates of forest biomass and carbon

Amplifying effects of land‐use change on future atmospheric CO₂ levels

Satellite observation of El Niño effects on Amazon Forest phenology and productivity

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Annual fluxes of carbon from deforestation and regrowth in the Brazilian Amazon

Cited by 635 publications

References 26 publications

Model effects on GLAS-based regional estimates of forest biomass and carbon

Model effects on GLAS-based regional estimates of forest biomass and carbon

Amplifying effects of land‐use change on future atmospheric CO2 levels

Satellite observation of El Niño effects on Amazon Forest phenology and productivity

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Amplifying effects of land‐use change on future atmospheric CO₂ levels