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Comparison of national level biomass maps for conterminous US: understanding pattern and causes of differences.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:As Earth observation satellite data proliferate, so too do maps derived from them. Even when two co-located maps are produced with low overall error, the spatial distribution of error may not be the same. Increasingly, methods will be needed to understand differences among purportedly similar products. For this study, we have used the four aboveground biomass (AGB) maps for conterminous US generated under NASA's Carbon Monitoring System. We have developed systematic approach to (1) assess both the absolute accuracy of individual maps and assess the spatial patterns of agreement among maps, and (2) investigate potential causes of the spatial structure of agreement among maps to gain insight into reliability of methodological choices in map making. RESULTS:The comparison of the four biomass maps with FIA based total biomass estimates at national scale suggest that all the maps have higher biomass estimate compared to FIA. When the four maps were compared among each other, the result shows that the maps S and K have more similar spatial structure whereas the maps K and W have more similar absolute values. Although the maps K and W were generated using completely different methodological workflow, they agree remarkably. All the maps did well in the dominant forest type with maximum agreement between them. The comparison of difference between maps S and K with regional maps suggests that these maps were able to capture the disturbance and not so much regrowth pattern. CONCLUSIONS:The study provides a comprehensive systematic approach to compare and evaluate different real data products using examples of four AGB maps. Although ostensibly the four maps map the same variable, they have different spatial distribution at different scale. Except the 2003 map, one can use other maps at the coarser spatial resolution. Finally, the disparate information available through different maps indicates a need for a temporal framework for consistent monitoring of carbon stock at national scale.

SUBMITTER: Neeti N

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5002052 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Comparison of national level biomass maps for conterminous US: understanding pattern and causes of differences.

Neeti N N Kennedy R R

Carbon balance and management 20160826 1

<h4>Background</h4>As Earth observation satellite data proliferate, so too do maps derived from them. Even when two co-located maps are produced with low overall error, the spatial distribution of error may not be the same. Increasingly, methods will be needed to understand differences among purportedly similar products. For this study, we have used the four aboveground biomass (AGB) maps for conterminous US generated under NASA's Carbon Monitoring System. We have developed systematic approach t ...[more]

PMID: 27635152

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Project description:BackgroundMapping the aboveground biomass of tropical forests is essential both for implementing conservation policy and reducing uncertainties in the global carbon cycle. Two medium resolution (500 m - 1000 m) pantropical maps of vegetation biomass have been recently published, and have been widely used by sub-national and national-level activities in relation to Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+). Both maps use similar input data layers, and are driven by the same spaceborne LiDAR dataset providing systematic forest height and canopy structure estimates, but use different ground datasets for calibration and different spatial modelling methodologies. Here, we compare these two maps to each other, to the FAO's Forest Resource Assessment (FRA) 2010 country-level data, and to a high resolution (100 m) biomass map generated for a portion of the Colombian Amazon.ResultsWe find substantial differences between the two maps, in particular in central Amazonia, the Congo basin, the south of Papua New Guinea, the Miombo woodlands of Africa, and the dry forests and savannas of South America. There is little consistency in the direction of the difference. However, when the maps are aggregated to the country or biome scale there is greater agreement, with differences cancelling out to a certain extent. When comparing country level biomass stocks, the two maps agree with each other to a much greater extent than to the FRA 2010 estimates. In the Colombian Amazon, both pantropical maps estimate higher biomass than the independent high resolution map, but show a similar spatial distribution of this biomass.ConclusionsBiomass mapping has progressed enormously over the past decade, to the stage where we can produce globally consistent maps of aboveground biomass. We show that there are still large uncertainties in these maps, in particular in areas with little field data. However, when used at a regional scale, different maps appear to converge, suggesting we can provide reasonable stock estimates when aggregated over large regions. Therefore we believe the largest uncertainties for REDD+ activities relate to the spatial distribution of biomass and to the spatial pattern of forest cover change, rather than to total globally or nationally summed carbon density.

Dataset Information

Comparison of national level biomass maps for conterminous US: understanding pattern and causes of differences.

Publications

Comparison of national level biomass maps for conterminous US: understanding pattern and causes of differences.

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