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Recent reversal in loss of global terrestrial biomass

Liu, Yi Y.; Van Dijk, Albert; de Jeu, Richard A.M.; Canadell, Josep G.; McCabe, Matthew F.; Evans, Jason; Wang, Guojie

Description

Vegetation change plays a critical role in the Earth's carbon (C) budget and its associated radiative forcing in response to anthropogenic and natural climate change. Existing global estimates of aboveground biomass carbon (ABC) based on field survey data provide brief snapshots that are mainly limited to forest ecosystems. Here we use an entirely new remote sensing approach to derive global ABC estimates for both forest and non-forest biomes during the past two decades from satellite passive...[Show more]

dc.contributor.authorLiu, Yi Y.
dc.contributor.authorVan Dijk, Albert
dc.contributor.authorde Jeu, Richard A.M.
dc.contributor.authorCanadell, Josep G.
dc.contributor.authorMcCabe, Matthew F.
dc.contributor.authorEvans, Jason
dc.contributor.authorWang, Guojie
dc.date.accessioned2015-12-10T23:26:07Z
dc.identifier.issn1758-678X
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1885/67629
dc.description.abstractVegetation change plays a critical role in the Earth's carbon (C) budget and its associated radiative forcing in response to anthropogenic and natural climate change. Existing global estimates of aboveground biomass carbon (ABC) based on field survey data provide brief snapshots that are mainly limited to forest ecosystems. Here we use an entirely new remote sensing approach to derive global ABC estimates for both forest and non-forest biomes during the past two decades from satellite passive microwave observations. We estimate a global average ABC of 362 PgC over the period 1998-2002, of which 65% is in forests and 17% in savannahs. Over the period 1993-2012, an estimated '0.07 PgC yr '1 ABC was lost globally, mostly resulting from the loss of tropical forests ('0.26 PgC yr '1) and net gains in mixed forests over boreal and temperate regions (+0.13 PgC yr '1) and tropical savannahs and shrublands (+0.05 PgC yr '1). Interannual ABC patterns are greatly influenced by the strong response of water-limited ecosystems to rainfall variability, particularly savannahs. From 2003 onwards, forest in Russia and China expanded and tropical deforestation declined. Increased ABC associated with wetter conditions in the savannahs of northern Australia and southern Africa reversed global ABC loss, leading to an overall gain, consistent with trends in the global carbon sink reported in recent studies.
dc.publisherNature Publishing Group
dc.sourceNature Climate Change
dc.titleRecent reversal in loss of global terrestrial biomass
dc.typeJournal article
local.description.notesImported from ARIES
local.identifier.citationvolume5
dc.date.issued2015
local.identifier.absfor050206 - Environmental Monitoring
local.identifier.ariespublicationa383154xPUB1490
local.type.statusPublished Version
local.contributor.affiliationLiu, Yi Y., University of New South Wales
local.contributor.affiliationVan Dijk, Albert, College of Medicine, Biology and Environment, ANU
local.contributor.affiliationde Jeu, Richard A.M., VU University Amsterdam
local.contributor.affiliationCanadell, Josep G., Global Carbon Project, Oceans and Atmosphere Flagship
local.contributor.affiliationMcCabe, Matthew F., King Abdullah University of Science and Technology
local.contributor.affiliationEvans, Jason, University of New South Wales
local.contributor.affiliationWang, Guojie, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology
local.description.embargo2037-12-31
local.bibliographicCitation.issue5
local.bibliographicCitation.startpage470
local.bibliographicCitation.lastpage474
local.identifier.doi10.1038/nclimate2581
local.identifier.absseo960305 - Ecosystem Adaptation to Climate Change
dc.date.updated2015-12-10T10:57:35Z
local.identifier.scopusID2-s2.0-84928526438
CollectionsANU Research Publications

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