U.S. Forest Carbon Stocks and Flux Estimates from 2005-2010

Maps and county-level estimates of forest carbon stocks, emissions, and net flux for the conterminous United States from 2005 to 2010. The dataset includes 100-meter resolution GeoTIFF maps of carbon in aboveground biomass, belowground biomass, standing dead stems, and litter, plus shapefiles of average annual county-level carbon flux. It was produced by NASA and covers a six-year period.

Use Cases

• Modeling carbon sequestration potential of U.S. forests using county-level net flux data.
• Analyzing the impact of specific disturbances like logging or insect damage on forest carbon emissions.
• Mapping spatial distribution of forest carbon stocks in aboveground and belowground biomass at 100m resolution.
• Assessing the carbon consequences of land use conversion to agriculture across the continental U.S.

Strengths

• Provides high-resolution (100m) spatial data for detailed geographic analysis.
• Covers a multi-year period (2005-2010) for temporal trend analysis.
• Distinguishes between multiple carbon pools (aboveground biomass, belowground biomass, litter, dead stems) and emission sources.

Limitations

• Data is over a decade old (2005-2010), limiting current applicability.
• Conflicting last-update dates: datagov lists 2026 (likely a metadata error), while NASA Earthdata lists 2010.
• Specific row counts, file sizes, and detailed column names are not provided across platforms.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Spatial modeling and estimation from remote sensing and other data sources.

Time Range

2005-2010

Freshness

2010-12-31 23:59:59.999000

Geography

Conterminous United States (48 states)