Abstract
Members of the U.S. Climate Alliance, a coalition of 24 states committed
to achieving the emissions reductions outlined in the 2015 Paris
Agreement, are considering policy options for inclusion of forest carbon
in climate mitigation plans. Required forest carbon data consist of
integrated: (1) baseline mapping of contemporary carbon stocks, (2)
projections of future carbon stocks for planning, and (3) annual
monitoring for assessment. Previously, we developed high-resolution
mapping of contemporary carbon stocks and 300-yr projections of annual
carbon sequestration potential (CSP) for Maryland at 90m resolution by
integrating airborne LiDAR with mechanistic ecosystem modeling
(Ecosystem Demography (ED) model). Here we extend this work to Delaware
and present the first consistent, annual monitoring results for both
states (Maryland and Delaware). For monitoring, we intersect annual
carbon stock estimates with 30m Landsat-derived changes in forest area
to compute realized carbon gains and losses over the period 2011—2019.
Moving forward, we expect to extend this pilot system developed for
Maryland and Delaware to an additional 9 U.S. states. As the framework
is flexible, developing a nationwide or global system is increasingly
feasible, particularly with the recent availability of GEDI LiDAR
observations from space.