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CMS: LiDAR-derived Estimates of Aboveground Biomass

Submitted by ORNL DAAC Staff on

High-resolution LiDAR-derived maps of aboveground biomass at four forested sites in the US are now available from the ORNL DAAC.

This data set provides high-resolution maps of aboveground biomass at four forested sites in the US: Garcia River Tract in California, Anne Arundel and Howard Counties in Maryland, Parker Tract in North Carolina, and Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in New Hampshire. Biomass maps were generated using a combination of field data (forest inventory and Lidar) and modeling approaches. Estimates of uncertainty are also provided for the Maryland site using two different modeling methodologies. The data are for the nominal year of 2011 at 20-50 meter resolution in units of megagrams of carbon per hectare (or acre for the Garcia Tract site).

The Carbon Monitoring System (CMS) is designed to make significant contributions in characterizing, quantifying, understanding, and predicting the evolution of global carbon sources and sinks through improved monitoring of carbon stocks and fluxes. The System will use the full range of NASA satellite observations and modeling/analysis capabilities to establish the accuracy, quantitative uncertainties, and utility of products for supporting national and international policy, regulatory, and management activities. CMS will maintain a global emphasis while providing finer scale regional information, utilizing space-based and surface-based/in situ data.

Data Set Citation: Cook, B., A. Swatantran, L. Duncanson, A. Armstrong, N. Pinto, R. Nelson. 2014. CMS: LiDAR-derived Estimates of Aboveground Biomass at Four Forested Sites, USA. Data set. Available on-line [http://daac.ornl.gov] from Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distributed Active Archive Center, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA. http://dx.doi.org/10.3334/ORNLDAAC/1257

The ORNL DAAC is one of twelve NASA funded Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAACs) and is responsible for archiving and distributing terrestrial ecology and biogeochemical dynamics data.