Field Measurements for Forest Carbon Monitoring: A Landscape-Scale Approach - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 9048178967 ISBN 13: 9789048178964

Publisher: Springer, 2010

Synopsis

In the summer of 2003, a workshop was held in Portsmouth, NH, to discuss land measurement techniques for the North American Carbon Program. Over 40 sci- tists representing government agencies, academia and nonprofit research organi- tions located in Canada, the US and Mexico participated. During the course of the workshop a number of topics were discussed, with an emphasis on the following: • The need for an intermediate tier of carbon measurements. This level of study would be more extensive than state-level inventories of the US Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis Program, but less detailed than intensive ecos- tem studies sites such as those in Long Term Ecological Research network. This tier would ideally provide a basis to link and scale remote sensing measurements and inventory data, and supply data required to parameterize existing models (see Wofsy and Harriss 2002, Denning et al. 2005). • The design criteria that such a network of sites should meet. The network and s- pling design should be standardized, but flexible enough to be applied across North America. The design also needs to be efficient enough to be implemented without the need for large field crews, yet robust enough to provide useful information. Finally, the spatial scale must permit easy linkage to remotely sensed data. • The key variables that should be measured at each site, and the frequency of measurement.

About this title

From the Back Cover

This volume is a comprehensive guide to the methods and techniques employed in forest carbon inventory and monitoring. Since forest carbon research is interdisciplinary, it is unlikely that any one investigator will possess expertise in all of the types of measurements needed to conduct forest carbon research at scales larger than a forest stand. Techniques used to characterize standing stocks of carbon in a forest, measure key carbon fluxes, and collect related data (such as forest canopy nitrogen concentrations and meteorological measurements) that are required to drive process models, develop predictive relationships, and link to remote sensing data are described in detail. In addition to the measurement methods, the chapters include background information, necessary calculations, and equipment requirements.

The field of forest carbon research is growing rapidly, and Field Measurements for Forest Carbon Monitoring provides an excellent reference for the many and varied techniques necessary to characterize the forest carbon cycle. While the book outlines an entire forest carbon monitoring program, each chapter stands alone as a reference for measuring the variable described, and sufficient background discussion is included to allow investigators to determine if a particular measurement is warranted in their research program.

Edition details

• Publisher: Springer
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 9048178967
• ISBN 13: 9789048178964
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 257
• Editor: Hoover Coeli M