A new circa 2007 biomass map for China differs significantly from existing maps

Wenquan Dong; Edward T A Mitchard; Maurizio Santoro; Man Chen; Charlotte E Wheeler

doi:10.1038/s41597-024-03092-8

A new circa 2007 biomass map for China differs significantly from existing maps

Sci Data. 2024 Mar 11;11(1):287. doi: 10.1038/s41597-024-03092-8.

Authors

Wenquan Dong¹, Edward T A Mitchard², Maurizio Santoro³, Man Chen⁴, Charlotte E Wheeler⁵

Affiliations

¹ School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH9 3FF, UK. wenquan.dong@ed.ac.uk.
² School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH9 3FF, UK.
³ GAMMA Remote Sensing, 3073, Gümligen, Switzerland.
⁴ School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH9 3FF, UK. man.chen@ed.ac.uk.
⁵ Department of Plant Sciences and Conservation Research Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EA, UK.

Abstract

The forest area of China is the fifth largest of any country, and unlike in many other countries, in recent decades its area has been increasing. However, there are substantial differences in estimates of the amount of carbon this forest contains, ranging from 3.92 to 17.02 Pg C for circa 2007. This makes it unclear how the changes in China's forest area contribute to the global carbon cycle. We generate a circa 2007 aboveground biomass (AGB) map at a resolution of 50 m using optical, radar and LiDAR satellite data. Our estimates of total carbon stored in the forest in China was 9.52 Pg C, with an average forest AGB of 104 Mg ha^-1. Compared with three existing AGB maps, our AGB map showed better correlation with a distributed set of forest inventory plots. In addition, our high resolution AGB map provided more details on spatial distribution of forest AGB, and is likely to help understand the carbon storage changes in China's forest.

Publication types

Dataset

MeSH terms

Biomass*
Carbon
China
Environmental Monitoring*
Forests*
Trees

Substances

Carbon