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CARBON POOLS AND FLUX ON FORESTED LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES
Citation:
Gucinski, H., D. Turner, C. Peterson, AND G. Koerper. CARBON POOLS AND FLUX ON FORESTED LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/A-94/110 (NTIS PB94182300), 1991.
Description:
The potential for global climate change due to the anthropogenic release of carbon dioxide methane, and other gases has focused attention on global forests. orest ecosystems are a central component of the global carbon cycle and are of interest and concern for three reasons. ne is the current contribution of deforestation, particularly in tropical latitudes, to the build-up of greenhouse gases. econd is the potential climate induced redistribution of the world's forests, which may result in the release of potentially large quantities of carbon. ast, there is the possibility that forests could be managed to increase the sequestering of carbon and thereby both delay the onset of climate change or diminish its magnitude. uch management could take advantage of possible benefits that may accrue from the direct effects of higher ambient CO2 levels or from the potential expansion of tropical forests due to the increased water availability predicted by some general circulation models. his paper outlines the authors approach for estimating the carbon budget for the forest sector of the United States using existing data. reliminary results are presented however, improvements in a number of areas are being developed as discussed in the paper.
