Forest degradation contributes more to carbon loss than forest cover loss in North American boreal forests

Ling Yu; Lei Fan; Philippe Ciais; Jingfeng Xiao; Frédéric Frappart; Stephen Sitch; Jingming Chen; Xiangming Xiao; Rasmus Fensholt; Zhongbing Chang; Hongqian Fang; Xiaojun Li; Tiangxiang Cui; Mingguo Ma; Jean Pierre Wigneron

doi:10.1016/j.jag.2024.103729

Forest degradation contributes more to carbon loss than forest cover loss in North American boreal forests

Ling Yu, Lei Fan^*, Philippe Ciais, Jingfeng Xiao, Frédéric Frappart, Stephen Sitch, Jingming Chen, Xiangming Xiao, Rasmus Fensholt, Zhongbing Chang, Hongqian Fang, Xiaojun Li, Tiangxiang Cui, Mingguo Ma, Jean Pierre Wigneron

^*Corresponding author for this work

Geography, Land, Environment and Society

Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

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Abstract

The carbon sinks of North American boreal forests have been threatened by global warming and forest disturbances in recent decades, but knowledge about the carbon balance of these forests in recent years remains unknown. We tracked annual aboveground carbon (AGC) changes from 2016 to 2021 across the forest regions of NASA's Arctic Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE) core study domain, using Vegetation Optical Depth derived from low-frequency passive microwave observations. The results showed that these forests showed a net AGC increase of + 28.49 Tg C/yr during the study period, with total AGC gains of + 219.34 Tg C/yr counteracting total AGC losses of −190.86 Tg C/yr. Forest degradation (-162.21 Tg C/yr), defined as a reduction in the capacity of forest to provide goods and services, contributes 5 times more to the total AGC loss than forest cover loss (-28.65 Tg C/yr), defined as the complete removal of tree cover. This indicates that degradation has dominated AGC loss in the region.

Original language	English
Article number	103729
Journal	International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation
Volume	128
Number of pages	10
ISSN	1569-8432
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jag.2024.103729
Publication status	Published - 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Author(s)

Keywords

Canadian boreal forests
Carbon balance
Forest degradation
Remote sensing

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Cite this

Yu, L., Fan, L., Ciais, P., Xiao, J., Frappart, F., Sitch, S., Chen, J., Xiao, X., Fensholt, R., Chang, Z., Fang, H., Li, X., Cui, T., Ma, M., & Wigneron, J. P. (2024). Forest degradation contributes more to carbon loss than forest cover loss in North American boreal forests. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 128, [103729]. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jag.2024.103729

Forest degradation contributes more to carbon loss than forest cover loss in North American boreal forests. / Yu, Ling; Fan, Lei; Ciais, Philippe; Xiao, Jingfeng; Frappart, Frédéric; Sitch, Stephen; Chen, Jingming; Xiao, Xiangming; Fensholt, Rasmus; Chang, Zhongbing; Fang, Hongqian; Li, Xiaojun; Cui, Tiangxiang; Ma, Mingguo; Wigneron, Jean Pierre.

In: International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, Vol. 128, 103729, 2024.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

Yu, L, Fan, L, Ciais, P, Xiao, J, Frappart, F, Sitch, S, Chen, J, Xiao, X, Fensholt, R, Chang, Z, Fang, H, Li, X, Cui, T, Ma, M & Wigneron, JP 2024, 'Forest degradation contributes more to carbon loss than forest cover loss in North American boreal forests', International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, vol. 128, 103729. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jag.2024.103729

Yu, Ling ; Fan, Lei ; Ciais, Philippe ; Xiao, Jingfeng ; Frappart, Frédéric ; Sitch, Stephen ; Chen, Jingming ; Xiao, Xiangming ; Fensholt, Rasmus ; Chang, Zhongbing ; Fang, Hongqian ; Li, Xiaojun ; Cui, Tiangxiang ; Ma, Mingguo ; Wigneron, Jean Pierre. / Forest degradation contributes more to carbon loss than forest cover loss in North American boreal forests. In: International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation. 2024 ; Vol. 128.

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title = "Forest degradation contributes more to carbon loss than forest cover loss in North American boreal forests",

abstract = "The carbon sinks of North American boreal forests have been threatened by global warming and forest disturbances in recent decades, but knowledge about the carbon balance of these forests in recent years remains unknown. We tracked annual aboveground carbon (AGC) changes from 2016 to 2021 across the forest regions of NASA's Arctic Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE) core study domain, using Vegetation Optical Depth derived from low-frequency passive microwave observations. The results showed that these forests showed a net AGC increase of + 28.49 Tg C/yr during the study period, with total AGC gains of + 219.34 Tg C/yr counteracting total AGC losses of −190.86 Tg C/yr. Forest degradation (-162.21 Tg C/yr), defined as a reduction in the capacity of forest to provide goods and services, contributes 5 times more to the total AGC loss than forest cover loss (-28.65 Tg C/yr), defined as the complete removal of tree cover. This indicates that degradation has dominated AGC loss in the region.",

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author = "Ling Yu and Lei Fan and Philippe Ciais and Jingfeng Xiao and Fr{\'e}d{\'e}ric Frappart and Stephen Sitch and Jingming Chen and Xiangming Xiao and Rasmus Fensholt and Zhongbing Chang and Hongqian Fang and Xiaojun Li and Tiangxiang Cui and Mingguo Ma and Wigneron, {Jean Pierre}",

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year = "2024",

doi = "10.1016/j.jag.2024.103729",

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AU - Fan, Lei

AU - Ciais, Philippe

AU - Xiao, Jingfeng

AU - Frappart, Frédéric

AU - Sitch, Stephen

AU - Chen, Jingming

AU - Xiao, Xiangming

AU - Fensholt, Rasmus

AU - Chang, Zhongbing

AU - Fang, Hongqian

AU - Li, Xiaojun

AU - Cui, Tiangxiang

AU - Ma, Mingguo

AU - Wigneron, Jean Pierre

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N2 - The carbon sinks of North American boreal forests have been threatened by global warming and forest disturbances in recent decades, but knowledge about the carbon balance of these forests in recent years remains unknown. We tracked annual aboveground carbon (AGC) changes from 2016 to 2021 across the forest regions of NASA's Arctic Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE) core study domain, using Vegetation Optical Depth derived from low-frequency passive microwave observations. The results showed that these forests showed a net AGC increase of + 28.49 Tg C/yr during the study period, with total AGC gains of + 219.34 Tg C/yr counteracting total AGC losses of −190.86 Tg C/yr. Forest degradation (-162.21 Tg C/yr), defined as a reduction in the capacity of forest to provide goods and services, contributes 5 times more to the total AGC loss than forest cover loss (-28.65 Tg C/yr), defined as the complete removal of tree cover. This indicates that degradation has dominated AGC loss in the region.

AB - The carbon sinks of North American boreal forests have been threatened by global warming and forest disturbances in recent decades, but knowledge about the carbon balance of these forests in recent years remains unknown. We tracked annual aboveground carbon (AGC) changes from 2016 to 2021 across the forest regions of NASA's Arctic Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE) core study domain, using Vegetation Optical Depth derived from low-frequency passive microwave observations. The results showed that these forests showed a net AGC increase of + 28.49 Tg C/yr during the study period, with total AGC gains of + 219.34 Tg C/yr counteracting total AGC losses of −190.86 Tg C/yr. Forest degradation (-162.21 Tg C/yr), defined as a reduction in the capacity of forest to provide goods and services, contributes 5 times more to the total AGC loss than forest cover loss (-28.65 Tg C/yr), defined as the complete removal of tree cover. This indicates that degradation has dominated AGC loss in the region.

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KW - Carbon balance

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DO - 10.1016/j.jag.2024.103729

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JO - International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation

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