U.S. Forest Carbon Pools from MaxEnt Model, 2005-2017

Annual 100-meter resolution estimates for six carbon pools across the conterminous United States from 2005 to 2017. The dataset was produced by NASA using a modified MaxEnt model that integrates U.S. Forest Service FIA field inventory data with multiple remote sensing sources, including Landsat, MODIS, PALSAR, NAIP, and SRTM. It provides spatially explicit data on aboveground and belowground live and dead biomass, litter, and soil organic matter.

Use Cases

• Modeling national carbon budgets and sequestration potential using the six distinct carbon pool estimates.
• Validating regional ecosystem or climate models with spatially explicit biomass and soil carbon data.
• Assessing changes in forest carbon stocks over time across the CONUS for the years 2005, 2010, 2015, 2016, and 2017.
• Informing land management and conservation strategies with pixel-level estimates of aboveground live biomass.

Strengths

• Integrates field data from the authoritative U.S. Forest Service FIA program with a multi-sensor remote sensing approach.
• Provides estimates for six distinct carbon pools, offering a detailed breakdown of terrestrial carbon storage.
• Covers a 12-year time span (2005-2017) with data for five specific years, enabling temporal analysis.
• Data is co-registered on a consistent, high-resolution 100-meter (1-hectare) grid across the entire CONUS.

Limitations

• There is a conflict in the reported last updated date: Data.gov lists 2026-03 13, while NASA Earthdata lists 2017-12-31, suggesting potential metadata inconsistencies.
• Specific column names, row counts, and total dataset size are not provided on any platform, limiting precise technical assessment.
• The license is ambiguously listed as 'other-license-specified' on Data.gov, requiring further investigation for reuse.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Modified MaxEnt model applied to fused data from U.S. Forest Service FIA inventories and multiple satellite/airborne remote sensing platforms.

Time Range

2005 to 2017

Freshness

2026-03-13 06:02:39.456936

Geography

Conterminous United States (CONUS)