Total Forest Carbon Density 2000-2009

USFS Forest Inventory Analysis

Through application of a nearest-neighbor imputation approach, mapped estimates of forest carbon density were developed for the contiguous United States using the annual forest inventory conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program, MODIS satellite imagery, and ancillary geospatial datasets.

The U.S. has been providing national-scale estimates of forest carbon stocks and stock change to meet United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change reporting requirements for years. Although these currently are provided as national estimates by pool and year to meet greenhouse gas monitoring requirements, there is growing need to disaggregate these estimates to finer scales to enable strategic forest management and monitoring activities focused on various ecosystem services such as carbon (C) storage enhancement.

http://dx.doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0004