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POOLS AND FLUXES OF BIOGENIC CARBON IN THE FORMER SOVIET UNION
Citation:
Vinson, T. AND T. Kolchugina. POOLS AND FLUXES OF BIOGENIC CARBON IN THE FORMER SOVIET UNION. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/J-94/096 (NTIS PB94146354), 1993.
Description:
The former Soviet union (FSU) was the largest country in the world. t occupied one-sixth of the land surface of the Earth. n understanding of the pools and f luxes of biogenic carbon in the FSU is essential to the development of international strategies aimed at mitigation of the negative impacts of global climate change. he vegetation of the FSU includes the following principal types: forest, woodland, shrubland, grassland, tundra, desert, peatlands, and cultivated land. rctic deserts and tundra formations are found in the northern part; deserts and semi-deserts are found in the southern part. he territory is represented by a variety of climate conditions. he major part of the FSU territory is in the temperate climatic zone which changes from arctic and subarctic in the North to subtropical and desert in the South. rom west to east, the climate makes a transition from maritime to continental to monsoon. ramework was created to assess pools and fluxes of biogenic carbon in the FSU. nder the framework spatially distributed data were analyzed with a geographic information system to isolate ecoregions. he soil-vegetation complexes for the ecoregions were linked to FSU data bases of soil and vegetation carbon pools and fluxes. he carbon budget for an ecoregion was established multiplying the area of the ecoregion by the unit area carbon content(s) or rate(s) associated with the soil-vegetation complex for the ecoregion. he carbon pools and fluxes for all the ecoregions were summed to arrive at an initial estimate of the pools and fluxes of biogenic carbon for 95% of the FSU. he estimates obtained with the framework were in good agreement with estimates from other published sources.