Above-ground Biomass
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Vegetation biomass is a crucial ecological variable for understanding the evolution and potential future changes of the climate system. Photosynthesis withdraws CO2 from the atmosphere and stores carbon in vegetation in an amount comparable to that of atmospheric carbon. Vegetation systems have the potential either to sequester more carbon in the future or to contribute as an even larger source. Depending on the quantity of biomass, vegetation cover can have a direct influence on local, regional and even global climate, particularly on air temperature and water vapour. |
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| Domain: | Terrestrial | |
| Subdomain: | Biology | |
| Scientific Area: | Biosphere | |
| ECV Steward: | Martin Herold | |
| Products: | Above-ground Biomass | |
Global Forest Above-ground Biomass
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Figure: GEOCARBON global forest above-ground biomass map for 2010 at 0.01° (lucid.wur.nl). Forest areas according to the GLC2000 map (lucid.wur.nl).
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ECV Products and Requirements
These products and requirements reflect the Implementation Plan 2022 (GCOS-244).
The requirements are found in the complete 2022 ECVs Requirements document as well: ECV Above-ground Biomass.
| Products | Above-Ground Biomass (AGB) | ||
| (*) | Unit | Values | |
| Horizontal Resolution | G | m | 10 |
| B | 100 | ||
| T | 1000 | ||
| Vertical Resolution | G | - | |
| B | - | ||
| T | - | ||
| Temporal Resolution | G | years | 0.5 |
| B | 1-2 | ||
| T | 5-10 | ||
| Timeliness | G | years | <1 |
| B | 1-5 | ||
| T | >5 | ||
| Required Measurement Uncertainty (2-sigma) | G | % | 10 |
| B | 20 | ||
| T | 30 | ||
| Stability | G | % | 5 |
| B | 10 | ||
| T | 20 | ||
(*) Goal (G): an ideal requirement above which further improvements are not necessary. Breakthrough (B): an intermediate level between threshold and goal which, if achieved, would result in a significant improvement for the targeted application. The breakthrough value may also indicate the level at which specified uses within climate monitoring become possible. It may be appropriate to have different breakthrough values for different uses. Threshold (T): the minimum requirement to be met to ensure that data are useful.
Data Sources
This list provides sources for openly accessible data sets with worldwide coverage for which metadata is available. It is curated by the respective GCOS ECV Steward(s). The list does not claim to be complete. Anyone with a suitable dataset who wishes it to be added to this list should contact the GCOS Secretariat.
- Land Use, Carbon & Emission Data Portal (LUCID)
- Satellite ECV Inventory by the CEOS/CGMS Working Group on Climate (WGClimate)
