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NDP-068b

Geographical Distribution of Biomass Carbon in Tropical Southeast Asian Forests: An Updated Database for 2000

Small Map of Biomass Carbon Distribution


Contributed by:

Holly K. Gibbs1
Sandra Brown2

1Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment (SAGE)
University of Wisconsin, Madison
1710 University Avenue, Madison, WI 53726, USA
Email: hkgibbs@wisc.edu

2Winrock International
Ecoystem Services Unit
http://www.winrock.org/ecoystems

Prepared by L.M. Olsen and T.A. Boden
Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center
Environmental Sciences Division

OAK RIDGE NATIONAL LABORATORY
Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831-6335
managed by
University of Tennessee-Battelle, LLC
for the
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Date Published: Sept. 2008

CONTENTS

ABSTRACT

LIST OF TABLES

1. BACKGROUND INFORMATION

2. SOURCE AND SCOPE OF THE DATA

3. DESCRIPTION OF PROCESSING ROUTINE

4. REFERENCES

5. HOW TO OBTAIN DATA AND DOCUMENTATION

6. LISTING OF FILES PROVIDED

7. DESCRIPTION OF THE DOCUMENTATION FILE

8. DESCRIPTION, FORMAT, AND PARTIAL LISTINGS OF THE ASCII DATA FILES



ABBREVIATIONS

CDIAC = Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center
FTP = file transfer protocol
GIS = geographic information systems
NDP = numeric data package
QA = quality assurance



ABSTRACT

Gibbs, H.K. and S. Brown. 2008. Geographical Distribution of Biomass Carbon in Tropical Southeast Asian Forests: An Updated Database for 2000, NDP-068b. Available at [http://cdiac.ornl.gov/epubs/ndp/ndp068/ndp068b.html] from the Carbon Dioxide Information Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee

Maps of biomass density are critical inputs for estimating carbon emissions from deforestation and degradation of tropical forests. Brown et al. (1993) pioneered methods to use GIS analysis to map forest biomass based on forest inventory data (ndp068). This database is an update of ndp068 (which represents conditions in circa 1980) and accounts for land cover changes, specifically deforestation and degradation, occurring up to the year 2000.

Keywords: biosphere, terrestrial ecosystems, tropical ecoystems, Southeast Asia, carbon cycle, forests, biomass, degradation, deforestation, vegetation formations, biogeography, climate regions, mapping, human impacts.

NDP068b includes the following data and documentation files:

  • ascii documenation file
  • ??gzipped ARC/INFO interchange file (.e00) of calculated biomass in woody vegetation (Mg/ha) (grid)
  • gzipped ARC/INFO interchange file (.e00) of carbon (tonnes/ha) in woody vegetation (grid)
  • gzipped ARC/INFO interchange file (.e00) of GLC2000 land cover data (grid) (SE Asia only)
  • gzipped ARC/INFO interchange file (.e00) of Gridded Population of the World data (grid) (SE Asia only)
  • gzipped ARC/INFO interchange file (.e00) of NDP-068 ecofloristic zones (grid)
  • ??? gzipped ARC/INFO interchange file (.e00) of NDP-068 potential biomass (Mg/ha) (grid)

See CDIAC's Anonymous FTP service for information on how to download compressed data files.

LIST OF TABLES

  1. Table 1. Files in this NDP
  2. Table 2. Variable formats for ??????????.VAT (.e00)
  3. Table 3. Variable formats for ??????????VAT (.e00)
  4. Table 4. Variable formats for ??????????_AF.VAT(.e00)
  5. Table 5. Variable formats for ??????????AT(.e00)
  6. Table 6. Variable formats for ??????????AT(.e00)

1. BACKGROUND INFORMATION

This document is an update of Brown, S, Iverson, L. and A. Prasad. 1993. Geographical Distribution of Biomass Carbon in Tropical Southeast Asian Forests: A Database (NDP-068), Carbon Dioxide Information Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Please see ndp068 for background information regarding the orignal Brown et al. data set.

The goal of this project was to update the ndp068 biomass map of Southeast Asian forests to more accurately represent conditions in 2000. The same methods and established statistical relationships were used to develop the new data. The Global Land Cover 2000 (GLC2000) Database was used to derive forest distribution in the year 2000, and CIESIN's Gridded Population of the World data set provided more current population figures to use in the analysis. The use of these datasets in conjunction with the original ndp068 data allowed for the recognition of deforestation and degradation occurring over the last 20 years. The updated population and land cover data also provide more accurate representation at a higher spatial resolution than the original ndp068 data sets.


2. SOURCE AND SCOPE OF THE DATA

This dataset uses the methodology of Brown et al. (1996) with a contemporary land cover map (GLC2000) and population data to estimate biomass and biomass carbon in vegetation in forests in Southeast Asia.

The final data is a map of above-ground and below-ground (roots) living forest biomass. Soils were not included. Biomass carbon stocks are presented in t C/ ha. Biomass values were derived as a function of land cover class and population density, using statistical relationships developed by Brown et al. (1993). The gridded data is expressed in decimal degrees, in a geographic projection, with the Clarke1866 spheroid. The cellsize for these data is 5 minute x 5 minute.


3. DESCRIPTION OF PROCESSING ROUTINE

The input data layers used to derive biomass carbon included GLC2000 land cover (1km resolution), SEDAC population data (2.5 minute resolution), and potential biomass and ecofloristic zones used in ndp068 (.25 degree resolution). All input data layers were resampled to 5 minute resolution for consistency using a nearest neighbor resampling algorithm.

The first step in updating the ndp068 database was to identify the distribution of forest cover in the year 2000. The GLC2000 data base, available online at: http://www-tem.jrc.it/glc2000/ was used to identify the distribution of forest cover in the year 2000. GLC2000 forest and savanna categories (1-8, 11, 12) were extracted from the original land cover grid to create a new grid (forest). Mosaic and burnt forest categories (9, 10, 17, 18) were also extracted from the land cover grid to create a new grid (mforest).

GLC Land Cover Class and New Class

Class No. Class Name New Class
1 . Tree Cover, broadleaved, evergreen forest
2. Tree Cover, broadleaved, deciduous, closed forest
3. Tree Cover, broadleaved, deciduous, open forest
4. Tree Cover, needle-leaved, evergreen forest
5. Tree Cover, needle-leaved, deciduous forest
6. Tree Cover, mixed leaf type forest
7. Tree Cover, regularly flooded, fresh water forest
8. Tree Cover, regularly flooded, saline water forest
9. Mosaic: Tree Cover/Other natural vegetation mforest
10. Tree Cover, burnt mforest
11. Shrub Cover, closed-open, evergreen forest
12. Shrub Cover, closed-open, deciduous forest
13. Herbaceous Cover, closed-open N/A
14. Sparse herbaceous or sparse shrub cover N/A
15. Regularly flooded shrub and/or herbaceous cover N/A
16. Cultivated and managed areas N/A
17. Mosaic: Cropland/Tree Cover/Other natural vegetation mforest
18. Mosaic: Cropland/Shrub and/or grass cover mforest
19. Bare Areas N/A
20. Water Bodies N/A
21. Snow and Ice N/A
22. Artificial surfaces and associated areas N/A
23. No Data N/A


These classes (forest and mforest) were further disaggregated using the same ecofloristic zones used in ndp068. Specifically, the vegx grid included with ndp068 was used to differentiate between moist (efz classes 2 and 6), seasonal (efz classes 3 and 7), and dry (efz class 4) forest categories. Montane and lowland classes were combined for both seasonal and moist ecofloristic zones. The resulting 6 grids include: moist forest, moist forest mosaic, seasonal forest, seasonal forest mosaic, dry forest and dry forest mosaic. (*Please note that results are dependent upon the method used to combine and extract these classes. The data authors used an Avenue script in ArcView to effectively "clip" data from one grid, using another grid.) Resulting grids include: mmfor_clip, mfor_clip, msfor_clip, sfor_clip, mdfor_clip, and dfor_clip.

Potential biomass values were assigned to the 6 land cover grids developed in the previous steps using the potential biomass grid developed for use in ndp068 (????). The output grids included: pb80dfor, pb80mdfor, pb80sfor, pb80msfor, pb80mfor, and pb80mmfor. Please note that the ndp068 potential biomass grid excluded small areas of contemporary forest. Gibbs and Brown used GIS interpolation to expand the extent of the potential biomass grid to match the 2000 land cover data.

Population data for the year 2000 (to match the land cover data) was used to calculate degradation ratios, which were then applied to the potential biomass data. First, six population density grids were extracted from CEISIN's unadjusted, 2.5' resolution, gridded population density data (available from SEDAC) by forest type. The resulting grids included: glds_dfor, glds_dmfor, glds_sfor, glds_smfor, glds_mfor, and glds_mmfor.

Please see ndp068 for a complete description of the methods established by Brown et al. (1993). To estimate the actual biomass remaining in live woody vegetation in 1980, researchers developed degradation ratios based on population data and applied them to the maximum potential biomass density map for forested lands. The degradation ratios were based on the assumption that the degree to which forests are reduced from their potential biomass is a function of the population density and forest type or ecofloristic zone. For example, high population densities will result in low degradation ratios (i.e., highly degraded forests), and drier regions will be degraded more severely than moist regions because of the ability of moist forests to replace biomass faster (Brown and Lugo 1982). For more information, please refer to the complete documentation for ndp068.

Degradation equations were estimated for three forest types (moist forest, seasonal forest, and dry forest) by comparing the potential biomass density in 1980 with biomass densities obtained from forest inventories for the same location. This process produced unitless factors that indicate the reduction from potential biomass to actual biomass as a function of population density. Please see ndp055 for more information on how the equations were derived. (ndp055b uses the same equations as ndp055).

The equation for moist forest:
1. Degradation Ratio = 0.819 - 0.085*ln(PD)
Note: PD refers to population density expressed as people per km2

The equation for seasonal forest is:
2. Degradation Ratio = 1.303 - 0.151*ln(PD)

The equation for dry forest is:
3. Degradation Ratio = 1.131 - 0.168*ln(PD)

Note:
Population values < 0.06 were reset to 0.06 as described in ndp068.
Population values > 0.99 were reset to 1.0 as described in ndp068.

These equations were applied to the population subset grids described in the previous step, resulting in the following degradation ratio grids: mfor_dr, mm_dr, sfor_drg, sm_drg, dfor_drg, and drym_drg.

Potential biomass grids representing moist forest, dry forest, seasonal forest, moist forest mosaic, dry forest mosaic, and seasonal forest mosaic, were multiplied by the appropriate degradation ratio (as defined above) to determine actual biomass values for each population density/forest type combination (Resultant grids include: mforc, mmforc, sfor_c, smfor_c, drymfor_c, dry_c). Results for the mosaic categories were divided in half, and all grid values were converted to integers prior to merging the grids back together to represent actual forest biomass for Southeast Asia (se_asia).



See Gibbs et al. 2007 for an assessment of national-level forest carbon stocks and further discussion on the development of this database.


4. REFERENCES

Brown, S. and A.E. Lugo. 1982. The storage and production of organic matter in tropical forests and their role in the global carbon cycle. Biotropical 14: 161-187.

Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University; and Centro Internacional de Agricultura (CIAT). 2005. Gridded Population of the World Version 3 (GPWv3): Population Density Grids.

Gibbs, H.K., S. Brown, J.O. Niles, J.A. Foley. 2007. Can forest carbon stocks be measured in developing countries? (in press, Environmental Research Letters).

Global Land Cover 2000 Database. European Commission, Joint Research Centre, 2003. http://www-gen.jrc.it/glc2000

5. HOW TO OBTAIN THE DATA AND DOCUMENTATION

This database (NDP-055b) is available free of charge from CDIAC. The files are available, via the Internet, from CDIAC's World-Wide-Web site (http://cdiac.ornl.gov), or from CDIAC's anonymous file transfer protocol (FTP) area (cdiac.ornl.gov) as follows:

  1. FTP to cdiac.ornl.gov (128.219.24.36).
  2. Enter "ftp" as the user id.
  3. Enter your email address as the password (e.g., fred@school.org).
  4. Change to the directory "pub/ndp055b/" (i.e., use the command "cd pub/ndp055b").
  5. Set ftp to get ASCII files by using the ftp "ascii" command.
  6. Retrieve the ASCII database documentation file by using the ftp "get ndp055b.txt" command.
  7. Set ftp to get BINARY files by using the ftp "bin" command.
  8. Retrieve the compressed data files by using the ftp "mget" *.gz command.
  9. Exit the system by using the ftp "quit" command.
For non-Internet data acquisitions (e.g., CD-ROM) or for additional information, contact:

Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
P.O. Box 2008
Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831-6335, U.S.A.

Telephone: 1-865-574-3645
Telefax: 1-865-574-2232
E-mail: cdiac@ornl.gov


6. LISTING OF FILES PROVIDED

  • af_biomass.e00.gz: compressed ARC/INFO interchange file (grid) containing estimates of biomass in woody vegetation (Mg/ha)
  • af_carbon.e00.gz: compressed ARC/INFO interchange file (grid) containing biomass carbon estimates (Mg/ha)
  • glc_subset_af.e00.gz: compressed ARC/INFO interchange file (grid) containing GLC2000 land cover classification for Africa
  • land_geo.e00.gz: compressed ARC/INFO interchange file (grid) containing land cover categories used in ndp055 and ndp055b
  • pb80_geo.e00.gz: compressed ARC/INFO interchange file (grid) containing potential biomass estimates for tropical Africa in 1980 (from ndp055)
  • af_actualbiomass_2000.gif: graphic map (GIF) showing biomass in woody vegetation in the year 2000
  • africa_forest_2000.gif: graphic map (GIF) showing forest cover in 2000
  • biomass_maps_diffs.gif: graphic map (GIF) showing difference between biomass in 1980 and 2000


7. DESCRIPTION OF DOCUMENTATION FILE

The ndp055b.txt file is an ASCII text equivalent of this document.



8. DESCRIPTION, FORMAT, AND PARTIAL LISTINGS OF THE DATA FILES

Table 2 describes the format and contents of the ARC/INFO export file af_biomass.e00.gz distributed with this numeric data package.

First 10 data records of af_biomass.e00 (uncompressed): 

EXP  0 E:\TOM_BODEN\SANDRA_BROWN\UPDATE\ACTUAL_BIOMASS\AF_BIOMASS.E00
GRD  2
      1534      1607 2-0.34028234663853E+39
 0.44971520007928E-01 0.44971520007928E-01
-0.17520892021892E+02-0.34888195609491E+02
 0.51465419670270E+02 0.37381037043249E+02
-0.3402823E+39-0.3402823E+39-0.3402823E+39-0.3402823E+39-0.3402823E+39
-0.3402823E+39-0.3402823E+39-0.3402823E+39-0.3402823E+39-0.3402823E+39
-0.3402823E+39-0.3402823E+39-0.3402823E+39-0.3402823E+39-0.3402823E+39
-0.3402823E+39-0.3402823E+39-0.3402823E+39-0.3402823E+39-0.3402823E+39

Last 10 data records of af_biomass.e00 (uncompressed):

IFO  2
AF_BIOMASS2.STA                 XX   4   4  32         1
MIN               8-1   14-1  15 3 60-1  -1  -1-1                   1-
MAX               8-1   94-1  15 3 60-1  -1  -1-1                   2-
MEAN              8-1  174-1  15 3 60-1  -1  -1-1                   3-
STDV              8-1  254-1  15 3 60-1  -1  -1-1                   4-
 1.04991778731346130E-01 4.64790527343750000E+02 1.00535439319918112E+02 1.07056
509507994278E+02
EOI
EOS

Table 3 describes the format and contents of the ARC/INFO export file af_carbon.e00.gz distributed with this numeric data package.

First 10 data records of af_carbon.e00 (uncompressed): 

EXP  0 E:\TOM_BODEN\SANDRA_BROWN\UPDATE\ACTUAL_BIOMASS\AF_CARBON.E00
GRD  2
      1534      1607 2-0.34028234663853E+39
 0.44971520007928E-01 0.44971520007928E-01
-0.17520892021892E+02-0.34888195609491E+02
 0.51465419670270E+02 0.37381037043249E+02
-0.3402823E+39-0.3402823E+39-0.3402823E+39-0.3402823E+39-0.3402823E+39
-0.3402823E+39-0.3402823E+39-0.3402823E+39-0.3402823E+39-0.3402823E+39
-0.3402823E+39-0.3402823E+39-0.3402823E+39-0.3402823E+39-0.3402823E+39
-0.3402823E+39-0.3402823E+39-0.3402823E+39-0.3402823E+39-0.3402823E+39

Last 10 data records of af_carbon.e00 (uncompressed): 

IFO  2
AF_CARBON2.STA                  XX   4   4  32         1
MIN               8-1   14-1  15 3 60-1  -1  -1-1                   1-
MAX               8-1   94-1  15 3 60-1  -1  -1-1                   2-
MEAN              8-1  174-1  15 3 60-1  -1  -1-1                   3-
STDV              8-1  254-1  15 3 60-1  -1  -1-1                   4-
 5.24958893656730652E-02 2.32395263671875000E+02 5.02677196599590559E+01 5.35282
547539971389E+01
EOI
EOS


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