Source: Cool Earth
Using a combination of data sources, NASA have just produced the most accurate map yet showing exactly where the most carbon dense forest can be found in the tropical world. After analysing ground and satellite data from over 75 countries, the maps show that South America - principally the Amazon basin, presently stores more carbon in its forests than any other region on the planet. Brazil alone contains 61 billion tons of carbon in its biomass stock, almost as much as the whole of sub-Saharan Africa.
Published late May in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the report is expected to become a benchmark for monitoring forest cover and carbon levels for the emerging forest carbon markets. Sassan Saatchi, the study's lead researcher, said that: "the map shows not only the amount of carbon stored in the forest, but also the accuracy of the estimate."
"This could be of enormous assistance to projects like ours that need to show how, over time, the carbon in areas of rainforest dedicated to conservation is on the rise or remaining relatively stable," said Matthew Owen, Director of Cool Earth, a UK charity whose focus is on rainforest conservation in collaboration with local and indigenous forest-owning communities.
As well as sophisticated data from the Geoscience Laser Altimeter System on the ICESat satellite, NASA utilised more than 3 millions measurements of tree-top heights across three continents to produce the final maps.
"These patterns of carbon storage, which we really didn't know before, depend on climate, soil, topography and the history of human or natural disturbance of the forests," added Saatchi.