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Title: A PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT OF THE REGIONAL SCALE CARBON STOCKS AND FLUXES OF A DESERT USING FIELD MEASUREMENTS, SATELLITE IMAGES AND MODEL SIMULATIONS

Author
item ZHAN, X - UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND
item Kustas, William - Bill
item French, Andrew
item Ritchie, Jerry
item Prueger, John
item HIPPS, L - UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY
item Rango, Albert
item Schmugge, Thomas
item NOLEN, B - NEW MEXICO STATE UNIV
item Chopping, Mark

Submitted to: Advances in Terrestrial Ecosystem Carbon Inventory Measurements and Monitor
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/1/2000
Publication Date: 10/5/2000
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Terrestrial ecosystems, in which carbon is retained in live biomass, play an important role in the global carbon cycling. Among these ecological systems, vegetation and soils in arid and semiarid areas control significant proportions in the total carbon stocks on the land surface and carbon fluxes between the land surface and the atmosphere. Therefore, accurate assessment of the carbon stocks and fluxes of these areas at regional scales is required in global carbon cycle studies. This presentation will introduce the methodology used to estimate the carbon stocks and fluxes on the Jornada Experimental Range in southern New Mexico and the results of this preliminary regional scale assessment. Estimation of carbon stocks in this desert area is based on the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) from Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) images, field measurements of vegetation leaf area index (LAI) and relationships between NDVI and LAI and between LAI and biomass. A vegetation type classification map created with Landsat TM and other ancillary data sets is used to define the NDVI-LAI and LAI-Biomass relationships. A carbon and energy flux coupled model is used to estimate fluxes over the region. The model is driven by the observed meteorological data. Its input land surface parameters are derived from satellite images. Simulated energy fluxes are validated for specific sites with eddy covariance observations. Based on the output of spatially distributed carbon fluxes, carbon accumulations over this region for a period of time will be calculated and the contribution of the desert ecosystem to the atmospheric carbon pool will be discussed.