Forest inventory-based large-scale forest biomass and carbon budget assessment: new enhanced methods and use of remote sensing for verification
Muukkonen P. (2006). Forest inventory-based large-scale forest biomass and carbon budget assessment: new enhanced methods and use of remote sensing for verification. https://doi.org/10.14214/df.30
Abstract
In recent years, concern has arisen over the effects of increasing carbon dioxide (CO²) in the earth's atmosphere due to the burning of fossil fuels. One way to mitigate increase in atmospheric CO² concentration and climate change is carbon sequestration to forest vegetation through photosynthesis. Comparable regional scale estimates for the carbon balance of forests are therefore needed for scientific and political purposes. The aim of the present dissertation was to improve methods for quantifying and verifying inventory-based carbon pool estimates of the boreal forests in the mineral soils. Ongoing forest inventories provide a data based on statistically sounded sampling for estimating the level of carbon stocks and stock changes, but improved modelling tools and comparison of methods are still needed. In this dissertation, the entire inventory-based large-scale forest carbon stock assessment method was presented together with some separate methods for enhancing and comparing it. The enhancement methods presented here include ways to quantify the biomass of understorey vegetation as well as to estimate the litter production of needles and branches. In addition, the remote sensing method illustrated in this dissertation can be used to compare with independent data. The forest inventory-based large-scale carbon stock assessment method demonstrated here provided reliable carbon estimates when compared with independent data. Future activity to improve the accuracy of this method could consist of reducing the uncertainties regarding belowground biomass and litter production as well as the soil compartment. The methods developed will serve the needs for UNFCCC reporting and the reporting under the Kyoto Protocol. This method is principally intended for analysts or planners interested in quantifying carbon over extensive forest areas
Keywords
boreal forests;
carbon balance;
climatic changes;
forest vegetation
Published 4 October 2006
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Available at https://doi.org/10.14214/df.30 | Download PDF
Original articles
Muukkonen P., Mäkipää R., Laiho R., Minkkinen K., Vasander H. & Finér L. 2006. Relationship between biomass and percentage cover in understorey vegetation of boreal coniferous forests. Silva Fennica 40(2): 231–245.
https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.340
Muukkonen P. & Mäkipää R. 2006. Empirical biomass models of understorey vegetation according to stand and site attributes in boreal forests. Boreal Environment Research 11(5): 355–369.
http://www.borenv.net/BER/pdfs/ber11/ber11-355.pdf
Muukkonen P. 2005. Needle biomass turnover rates of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) derived from the needle-shed dynamics. Trees – Structure and Function 19(3): 273–279.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-004-0381-4
Muukkonen P. & Lehtonen A. 2004. Needle and branch biomass turnover rates of Norway spruce (Picea abies). Canadian Journal of Forest Research 34(12): 2517–2527.
https://doi.org/10.1139/X04-133
Liski J., Lehtonen A., Palosuo T., Peltoniemi M., Eggers T., Muukkonen P. & Mäkipää R. (2006). Carbon accumulation in Finland’s forests 1922–2004 – an estimate obtained by combination of forest inventory data with modelling of biomass, litter and soil. Annals of Forest Science 63(7): 687–697.
https://doi.org/10.1051/forest:2006049
Muukkonen P. & Heiskanen J. (2005). Estimating biomass for boreal forests using ASTER satellite data combined with standwise forest inventory data. Remote Sensing of Environment 99(4): 434–447.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2005.09.011
Muukkonen P. & Heiskanen J. (2007). Biomass estimation over a large area based on standwise forest inventory data, ASTER and MODIS satellite data: a possibility to verify carbon inventories. Remote Sensing of Environment 107(4): 617–624.