A mid-20th century estimate of global vegetation carbon stocks based on inventory statistics

This is a Preprint and has not been peer reviewed. This is version 2 of this Preprint.

Add a Comment

You must log in to post a comment.


Comments

There are no comments or no comments have been made public for this article.

Downloads

Download Preprint

Authors

Manan Bhan , Patrick Meyfroidt, Sarah Matej, Karl-Heinz Erb, Simone Gingrich

Abstract

Biomass carbon stocks (BCS) play a vital role in the climate system, but benchmarked estimates prior to the late 20th century remain scarce. Here, by making use of an early global forest resource assessment and harmonizing information on land use and carbon densities, we establish a global BCS account for the year 1950. Our best-guess BCS estimate is 450.7 PgC (median of all modulations: 518.3 PgC, range: 443.9-584.6 PgC), with ecosystems in Southern America and Western Africa storing c. 27 and 16% of the total respectively. Our estimates are in line with land change emissions estimates and suggest a reduction in BCS of 8-29% compared to the median, with losses in tropical subcontinents partially offset by gains in northern subcontinents. Our study demonstrates an approach to reconstruct global BCS over the 20th century to complement carbon flux-based modelling efforts and identify emerging global land transitions.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.31223/X56055

Subjects

Environmental Studies, Forest Sciences, Geography

Keywords

forest transition, land use change, carbon stocks

Dates

Published: 2022-03-28 11:00

Older Versions
License

CC BY Attribution 4.0 International

Additional Metadata

Conflict of interest statement:
None.