HR: 17:30h
AN: B54B-07    [Abstracts]
TI: The National Biomass and Carbon Dataset 2000: A High Spatial Resolution Baseline to Reduce Uncertainty in Carbon Accounting and Flux Modeling
AU: * Kellndorfer, J M
EM: jkellndorfer@whrc.org
AF: The Woods Hole Research Center, P.O. Box 296, Woods Hole, MA 02543 United States
AU: Walker, W S
EM: wwalker@whrc.org
AF: The Woods Hole Research Center, P.O. Box 296, Woods Hole, MA 02543 United States
AU: Hoppus, M
EM: mhoppus@fs.fed.us
AF: USDA Forest Service, Northeastern Research Station 11 Campus Blvd., Suite 200, Newtown Square, PA 19073 United States
AU: Westfall, J
EM: jameswestfall@fs.fed.us
AF: USDA Forest Service, Northeastern Research Station 11 Campus Blvd., Suite 200, Newtown Square, PA 19073 United States
AU: LaPoint, E
EM: elapoint@fs.fed.us
AF: USDA Forest Service, National FIA Spatial Data Services Louis C. Wyman Forestry Sciences Laboratory 271 Mast Road PO Box 640, Durham, NH 03824 United States
AB: A major goal of the North American Carbon Program (NACP) is to develop a quantitative scientific basis for regional to continental scale carbon accounting to reduce uncertainties about the carbon cycle component of the climate system. Given the highly complementary nature and quasi-synchronous data acquisition of the 2000 Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) and the Landsat-based 2001 National Land Cover Database (NLCD, 2001), an exceptional opportunity exists for exploiting data synergies afforded by the fusion of these high-resolution data sources. Accurate area-based estimates of terrestrial biomass and carbon require biophysical measures that capture both horizontal and vertical vegetation structure. Whereas the thematic layers of the NLCD are suitable for characterizing horizontal vegetation structure (i.e., cover type, canopy density, etc.), SRTM provides information relating to the vertical structure, i.e., primarily height. Research from pilot study sites in Georgia, Michigan, and California have shown that SRTM height information, analyzed in conjunction with bald Earth elevation data from the National Elevation Dataset (NED), is highly correlated with vegetation canopy height. Currently, a project funded under the NASA 'Carbon Cycle Science' program ('The National Biomass and Carbon Dataset 2000 - NBCD 2000') is underway to generate a 'millennium' high-resolution ecoregional database of circa-2000 vegetation canopy height, aboveground biomass, and carbon stocks for the conterminous U.S. which will provide an unprecedented baseline against which to compare data products from the next generation of advanced microwave and optical remote sensing platforms. In the NBCD2000 initiative, data are analyzed in 60 ecologically diverse regions, consistent with the NLCD 2001 mapping zones, which cover the entire conterminous United States. Within each mapping zone, data from the space shuttle are combined with topographic survey data from the NED to form a radar-measured vegetation height map. Subsequently, this map is converted to estimates of actual vegetation height, biomass, and carbon stock using survey data from the U.S.D.A. Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program and derived biomass data, as well as data sets compiled as part of the NLCD2001 project. This project depends on the confluence of these national datasets, and development of a complex set of models, each of which has its own accuracy characteristics. Value-added data products and identified accuracy limitations resulting from this project will support the future development of global satellite missions tasked to provide much improved height, biomass, and carbon estimates more directly, e.g., through the fusion of lidar and interferometric radar technologies. An overview of the NBCD200 project, together with the results from an initial study focused on mapping zone 16 (Central Utah), are presented.
UR: http://whrc.org/pressroom/press_releases/PR-2005-08-23-NBCD.htm
DE: 0428 Carbon cycling (4806)
DE: 0434 Data sets
DE: 0452 Instruments and techniques
DE: 0480 Remote sensing
DE: 4806 Carbon cycling (0428)
SC: Biogeosciences [B]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005