Baseline and projected future carbon storage and greenhouse-gas fluxes in ecosystems of Alaska

Abstract

Alaska is approximately one-fifth the area of the conterminous United States and spans a broad range in climate from the maritime coastal regions of south-central and southeast Alaska to the boreal forest region in interior Alaska to arctic and maritime tundra regions of northern and western Alaska. The cold temperatures of Alaska have led to the storage of vast quantities of soil and vegetation carbon. Although forest ecosystems of southeast Alaska have been regularly included in national resource or greenhouse-gas inventory programs, other regions of Alaska have not been included in national-level resource or greenhouse-gas inventory programs because of the large size of Alaska, the lack of extensive transportation infrastructure, and the low density of field data to support such programs. Yet, high-latitude ecosystems are potentially more vulnerable to climate change than ecosystems in the temperate zone during the remainder of the 21st century because temperature is projected to increase more in boreal and arctic regions. In particular, these increases in temperature may expose the substantial stores of carbon in the region to loss from more wildfire and permafrost thaw, which could turn the ecosystems of Alaska into a net carbon source. Therefore, the assessment of Alaska ecosystem carbon stocks and fluxes as well as methane fluxes, as reported here, was conducted to better understand the baseline and projected carbon distributions and potential responses to a rapidly changing environment. The results of this assessment will inform national climate and carbon management policies.

Citation

Zhu, Zhiliang [editor]; McGuire, A. David [editor]. 2016. Baseline and projected future carbon storage and greenhouse-gas fluxes in ecosystems of Alaska. Professional Paper. https://doi.org/10.3133/pp1826