You are here:
Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks 1990-2021: Chapter 6 Land Use, Land-Use Change, and Forestry
Citation:
Beaulieu, J. Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks 1990-2021: Chapter 6 Land Use, Land-Use Change, and Forestry. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, 2023.
Impact/Purpose:
The national greenhouse gas inventory is submitted to the United Nations in accordance with the Framework Convention on Climate Change. This chapter presents estimates of carbon dioxide and methane emissions from US flooded lands. The inventory is used by the US to track trends in GHG emissions. This work will be of interest to states, the US Government, and other countries to inform/track GHG mitigation actions.
Description:
Flooded lands are defined as water bodies where human activities have 1) caused changes in the amount of surface area covered by water, typically through water level regulation (e.g., constructing a dam), 2) waterbodies where human activities have changed the hydrology of existing natural waterbodies thereby altering water residence times and/or sedimentation rates, in turn causing changes to the natural emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs), and 3) waterbodies that have been created by excavation, such as canals, ditches and ponds (IPCC, 2019). Flooded lands are sources of carbon dioxide and methane to the atmosphere. This chapter presents estimate of GHG emissions from US flooded lands between 1990 and 2021.