Three New LBA-ECO Data Sets

The ORNL DAAC and the LBA DIS announce the release of three data sets associated with the LBA-ECO component of the Large Scale Biosphere- Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia (LBA).

LBA-ECO CD-01 Simulated Atmospheric Circulation, CO2 Variation, Tapajos: August 2001. Data set prepared by Lixin Lu, A. Scott Denning, Maria A.F. da Silva-Dias, Pedro Silva-Dias, Marcos Longo, S.R. Freitas, and Sassan S. Saatchi.

This data set reports simulated three dimensional winds and CO2 concentrations centered on the Tapajos National Forest in Brazil in August 2001. Winds (u, v, and w components) and CO2 concentrations were generated at 31 vertical levels at 1 km grid increment with the Brazilian version of Colorado State University (CSU) Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS).

LBA-ECO LC-04 Satellite/Census-Based 5-Minute Land Use Data, Amazonia: 1980 and 1995. Data set prepared by Jeffrey A. Cardille, Jonathan A Foley, and Marcos H. Costa.

This data set contains 5-minute land use maps for agricultural activity in Amazonia. The data set was produced by the statistical fusion of agricultural census data from Brazil, Columbia, Bolivia, and Peru with the land cover data product from the Global Land Cover Facility.

LBA-ECO LC-15 Amazon Basin Aboveground Live Biomass Distribution Map: 1990-2000. Data set prepared by Sassan S. Saatchi, Richard A. Houghton, and Bruce Nelson.

This data set provides a single raster image containing the spatial distribution of aboveground live forest biomass of the Amazon basin at 1-km resolution. This product was derived using a methodology based on a combination of land cover map, remote sensing derived metrics, and more than 500 forest plots distributed over the basin.

LBA is an international research initiative under the leadership of Brazil. The project focuses on the climatological, ecological, biogeochemical, and hydrological functions of Amazonia; the impact of land use change on these functions; and the interactions between Amazonia and the Earth system. The LBA-ECO component, which is funded by NASA, focuses on the question: "How do tropical forest conversion, regrowth, and selective logging influence carbon storage, nutrient dynamics, trace gas fluxes, and the prospect for sustainable land use in Amazonia?"

See the LBA Project page for further information about the study and to access associated data and documentation maintained by the ORNL DAAC.

The ORNL DAAC is a NASA-funded data center archiving and distributing terrestrial ecology and biogeochemical dynamics data. The LBA Data and Information System (LBA-DIS) has been developed by INPE with NASA's participation.