Thursday, June 27, 2019

QUEST will have a session at AGU this year; please consider submitting an abstract by July 31.


The AGU Fall Meeting will take place December 9-13, 2019 in San Francisco. https://www2.agu.org/fall-meeting

B064 - Improving Estimates of Ecosystem Carbon Storage

Quantifying carbon storage in terrestrial ecosystems remains challenging despite the need for strategic management of the global carbon balance. Forest biomass and forest soils can be highly heterogeneous and difficult to measure. Urban trees have been characterized using allometry from closed forests, which may result in bias. In agricultural systems, understanding the impact of land use practices on soil carbon changes remains a major research need. Fortunately, new technologies are improving estimates of natural variability, thereby reducing uncertainty. For example, terrestrial LiDAR can provide detailed characterization of live and dead wood pools. At the same time, methods for characterizing uncertainty in estimates are improving.  This session will highlight studies that are aimed at understanding the uncertainty in terrestrial carbon stocks, including quantifying spatial variability. It will also highlight novel data sets and quantitative methods used in these characterizations.