Olson, J.S, J.A. Watts, and L.J. Allsion. 1985. Major World Ecosystem Complexes Ranked by Carbon in Live Vegetation: A Database. ORNL/CDIAC-134, NDP-017. Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, U.S. Department of Energy, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, U.S.A. (Revised 2001)

    TABLES 1-5

  1. Files in this numeric data package
  2. Carbon Complexes Ranked in Live Vegetation (File 7)
  3. Contents and format of ndp017.dat(File 2)
  4. Contents and format of ndp017_g.dat (File 3)
  5. Contents and format of olson-carbon.e00 (File 8)


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Table 1. Files in this numeric data package 


File  File name       File size  File description
 no.                   (bytes)  

 1   ndp017.txt            6k    Descriptive file (i.e., this document)
 2   ndp017.dat          125k    Original matrix data file of latitude, longitude, 
                                 and ecosystem code
 3   ndp017_g.dat.Z      1.6M    Compressed flat data file of latitude, longitude, 
                                 ecosystem code, ecosystem name, gridcell area, and 
                                 carbon densities (medium, revised medium, minimum, 
                                 and maximum)
 4   ndp017.for           10k    Fortran input statement for the original matrix data file       
 5   world.gif            27k    Global ecosystem map
 6   world.ps            1.5M    Global ecosystem map      
 7   table.html            6k    Table providing information on ecosystem types and carbon 
                                 densities (medium, revised medium, minimum, and maximum)
 8   olson-carbon.e00.Z  124k    Compressed ARC/INFO export file for geographic information 
                                 system (GIS) users
 9   ndp017gis.doc         3k    ASCII documentation for olson-carbon.e00.Z
10   med_carbon.gif       27k    Map of revised medium carbon density by ecosystem complex
11   ndp017_convert.txt   20k    Text file describing how ndp017_g.dat was
                                 created from ndp017.dat, includes SAS and
                                 FORTRAN code.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Table 2. Major World Ecosystem Complexes Ranked by Carbon in Live Vegetation

In the table below, minimum, medium, and maximum carbon densities were taken from Table 5 in Olson et al. (1983). The revised medium carbon densities were taken from Table 1 in Olson et al. (1985) and were specified by J. S. Olson at the time of publication of Olson et al. (1985). "Color-Id" refers to the World Ecosystem Complexes shown in world.gif.

Color-Id Ecosystem complexes Gridcell count (0.5°) Medium carbon density (Kg C/m2) Revised medium carbon density (Kg C/m2) Minimum carbon density (Kg C/m2) Maximum carbon density (Kg C/m2) Ecosystem codes
1 Conifers 1719 16.00 13.00 12.0 20.0 22,27
2 Tropical/Subtropical Broad-leaved Humid Forest 3430 15.00 12.00 4.0 25.0 29,33,73
3 Southern Taiga 903 11.00 8.00 6.0 14.0 60,61
4 Mid-Latitude Mixed Woods (Deciduous/Evergreen/Conifer) 1589 10.00 7.00 6.0 14.0 23,24
5 Mid-Latitude Temperate Broad-leaved Forest 676 10.00 9.00 8.0 14.0 25,26
6 Main Boreal Taiga 3579 8.00 6.00 4.0 11.0 20,21
7 Tropical/Subtropical Dry Forest and Woodland 1584 7.00 6.00 5.0 9.0 32
8 Second Growth Forest/Fields (Tropical/Subtropical Humid, Temperate/Boreal Forests) 2232 5.00 4.00 4.0 8.0 56,57
9 Semi-arid Woodland or Low Forest 324 5.00 4.00 2.0 10.0 48
10 Northern or Maritime Taiga, Subalpine 3175 5.00 5.00 2.0 8.0 62
11 Tropical Montane Complexes 394 5.00 5.00 1.0 15.0 28
12 Second Growth Field/Woods (Tropical/Temperate Woods, Fields/Grass/Scrub) 1680 4.00 3.00 2.0 5.0 55,58
13 Succulent and Thorn Woods and Scrub 1350 4.00 3.00 2.0 6.0 59
14 Mediterranean Types & Dry, Highland Woods 1374 4.00 3.00 2.0 8.0 46,47
15 Warm or Hot Wetlands 546 3.00 2.00 1.0 6.0 45,72
16 Paddyland 697 3.00 3.00 2.0 4.0 36
17 Tropical Savanna and Woodland (Interrupted Woods) 2229 3.00 3.00 2.0 5.0 43
18 Shore and Hinterland Complexes 403 3.00 3.00 0.0 10.0 65,66,67,68
19 Other Irrigated Dryland 627 2.00 2.00 1.0 3.0 37,38,39
20 Wooded Tundra 1236 2.00 2.00 1.0 5.0 63
21 Bog/Mire of Cool or Cold Climates 576 2.00 2.00 1.0 6.0 44
22 Heath and Moorland 72 1.50 1.00 1.0 2.0 64
23 Warm or Hot Shrub and Grassland (Marginal Lands) 6400 1.30 0.90 0.5 3.0 41
24 Cool or Cold Farms, Towns 1477 1.00 0.70 0.4 2.0 30
25 Warm/Hot Farms, Towns, Cool Grass/Scrub 5553 1.00 0.80 0.6 2.0 31,40
26 Tibetan Meadows, Siberian Highlands 425 1.00 1.00 0.5 4.0 42
27 Cool Semidesert Scrub 930 0.60 0.60 0.3 1.0 52
28 Tundra, Arctic Desert and Ice 10561 0.50 0.50 0.0 1.2 53,54,69,70
29 Non-Polar Desert and Semidesert, Sparse Vegetation 4070 0.40 0.30 0.2 1.0 51,71,49
30 Non-Polar Sand Desert 1930 0.05 0.05 0.0 0.2 50
31 Water Bodies 172495 0.00 0.00 0.0 0.0 0
32 Antarctica 24964 0.00 0.00 0.0 0.0 17

Olson, J. S., J. A. Watts, and L. J. Allison, 1985. Major World Ecosystem Complexes Ranked by Carbon in Live Vegetation (NDP-017). Carbon Dioxide Information Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee

Olson, J. S., J. A. Watts, and L. J. Allison. 1983. Carbon in Live Vegetation of Major World ecosystems (ORNL-5862). Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Table 3. Contents and format of ndp017.dat (File 2) 

Variable  Variable   Variable  Starting  Ending  Units  Definition and comments
          type       width     column    column

LATITUDE    Real      8         1         8        dd    Latitude, decimal degrees (center of
                                                         grid cell)

LONGITUDE   Real      9         12       20        dd    Longitude, decimal degrees (center of
                                                         grid cell) 

ECOSYSTEM  Integer    2         24       25       n/a    Numeric code representing ecosystem
CODE                                                     complex (see world.gif) 

ECOSYSTEM Character  16         29       44       n/a    Ecosystem complex name 
COMPLEX

LATITUDE    Real      8         55       62        dd    Latitude, decimal degrees (center of
                                                         grid cell)

LONGITUDE   Real      9         66       74        dd    Longitude, decimal degrees (center of
                                                         grid cell) 

ECOSYSTEM  Integer    2         84       86       n/a    Numeric code representing ecosystem
CODE                                                     complex (see world.gif) 

ECOSYSTEM Character  16         95      111       n/a    Ecosystem complex name 
COMPLEX
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Table 4. Contents and format of ndp017_g.dat (uncompressed) (File 3) 
Variable    Variable  Variable  Starting  Ending  Units  Definition and comments
            type      width     column    column

LAT         Real      6         1         6        dd    Latitude, decimal degrees (center of
                                                         grid cell)

LON         Real      7         8        14        dd    Longitude, decimal degrees (center of
                                                         grid cell) 

ECOCODE    Integer    2         17       18       n/a    Numeric code representing ecosystem
                                                         complex (see world.gif) 

ECO       Character  17         20       36       n/a    Ecosystem complex name 
COMPLEXES

AREA       Integer    4         38       41       km2    Area of gridcell in square kilometers

MEDCD       Real      5         43       47    kg C/m2   Medium carbon density in kg of carbon
                                                         per sq. meter  

RMEDCD      Real      5         50       54    kg C/m2   Revised medium carbon density in kg 
                                                         of carbon per sq. meter

MINCD       Real      4         57       60    kg C/m2   Minimum carbon density in kg of carbon
                                                         per sq. meter   
 
MAXCD       Real      4         64       67    kg C/m2   Maximum carbon density in kg of carbon
                                                         per sq. meter
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Table 5. Variable formats for OLSONC.PAT in olson-carbon.e00 (File 8) 
Start Item      Data    Display   Data   Decimal   Definition and comments
Col   Name      Width    width    Type*  Places    

1     AREA        4       12       F        3      Area in m2 (ARC/INFO system variable)

5     PERMIMETER  4       12       F        3      Permimeter in m  (ARC/INFO system variable)

9     OLSON-
      CARBON#     4        5       B        -      ARC/INFO Internal polygon ID number 

13    OLSON
      CARBON-ID   4        5       B        -      ARC/INFO External polygon ID number 

17    GRID-CODE   4        5       B        -      Ecosystem Complex/Vegetation Code 

21    SHADE       3        3       I        -      Carbon ranking and color identifier 

24    MEAN-C      8        8       F        2      Medium carbon density (kg C/m2) 

32    MEAS-C      8        8       F        2      Revised medium carbon density (kg C/m2)

40    MIN-C       8        8       F        2      Minimum carbon density (kg C/m2)   

48    MAX-C       8        8       F        2      Maximum carbon density (kg C/m2)

56    NOTE      100      120       C        -      Description, ecosystem class 

*Data types are B-binary, C-character, F-float, I-integer, and N-numeric.  F and N
data types are real numbers with different precisions (precision is system dependent).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Back to CDIAC Home Page