Total ecosystem carbon

This dataset was produced through the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) national carbon sequestration assessment of ecosystem carbon stocks, carbon sequestration, and greenhouse-gas fluxes under present conditions and future scenarios. The assessment, required by the U.S. Congress (Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007) used a methodology that linked ecosystem carbon models to separate models of wildfires and LULC changes, and produced spatially and temporally explicit carbon stock and flux estimates. Carbon dynamics and GHG fluxes between the land and the atmosphere under land use-land cover (LULC) change, climate change, and land management scenarios were estimated using three ecosystem models: the Erosion-Deposition-Carbon Model (EDCM) (Liu et al. 2003), the CENTURY model (Parton et al. 1987; Parton et al. 1993), and a spreadsheet model (Zhu et al. 2010). Using datasets for LULC change, simulations of areas burned by wildland fires, agricultural land management, climate, and other biophysical data, the three models were run for each of three IPCC-SRES scenarios (A1B, A2 and B1) and for three global climate models (MIROC 3.2-medres, CSIRO and CGCM3). This project used output on total ecosystem carbon from two models - EDCM and Century. Annual model outputs are available for years 2006 through 2050 in raster format at 250 meter resolution. References Liu S, Bliss NB, Sundquist E et al (2003) Modeling carbon dynamics in vegetation and soil under the impact of soil erosion and deposition. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 17:1074 Parton WJ, Schimel DS, Cole CV et al (1987) Analysis of factors controlling soil organic matter levels in Great Plains Grasslands. Soil Science Society of America Journal 51:1173-1179 Parton WJ, Scurlock JMO, Ojima DS et al (1993) Observations and modeling of biomass and soil organic matter dynamics for the grassland biome worldwide. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 7:785-809 Zhu Z, Bergamaschi B, Bernknopf R et al (2010) A method for assessing carbon stocks, carbon sequestration, and greenhouse-gas fluxes in ecosystems of the United States under present conditions and future scenarios. U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5233. (Also available at http:/pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2010/5233/. ) Zhu, Zhiliang, and Reed, B.C., eds., (2012) Baseline and projected future carbon storage and greenhouse-gas fluxes in ecosystems of the Western United States: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1797, 192 p. (Also available at http://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/1797/.)