Cinnamon Bay Forest Biomass and Climate, 1983-2003

13,870 g/m2 was the average total above-ground biomass measured across 16 permanent plots in a late secondary moist subtropical forest in 1983. The dataset tracks biomass, litterfall, herbivory, and net primary productivity along an elevational gradient from 60 to 290 meters over a 20-year period, including the effects of hurricanes and drought, and includes supplementary climate station records from 1917 to 1981. Periodic disturbances appear to maintain the forest in a state of recovery, with biomass declining by nearly 7 percent by 2003.

Use Cases

• Modeling forest carbon sequestration based on measured above-ground biomass and ANPP estimates.
• Analyzing the impact of hurricanes and drought on biomass change across different topographic positions (summit, slope, valley, ridge).
• Calibrating remote sensing biomass products using ground-truth measurements from permanent plots.
• Studying long-term climate-vegetation interactions using paired forest productivity and weather station data.

Strengths

• Contains specific, quantified measurements: 13,870 g/m2 average biomass (1983), 1,064 g/m2/year ANPP (1992), and a 7% decline by 2003.
• Provides long-term, repeated measurements from 16 permanent plots over a 20-year period (1983-2003).
• Integrates forest productivity data with long-term climate records spanning 64 years (1917-1981).

Limitations

• Column names and exact data structure are not provided, limiting immediate analysis.
• Conflicting 'last updated' metadata: one source states 2026-04-09, another states 2003-07 31.
• Dataset size and row counts are unknown across all sources.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Measurements from 16 permanent study plots within the 132-ha Cinnamon Bay watershed; climate data from nearby weather stations.

Time Range

1917-2003

Freshness

2026-04 09 (conflict with 2003-07-31 noted in limitations)

Geography

Cinnamon Bay watershed, St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands