Carbon Sequestration

Future change in soil carbon was modeled by the U.S. Geological Survey's General Ensemble Biogeochemical Modeling System (GEMS)(http://www.usgs.gov/climate_landuse/land_carbon/BGM.asp). Carbon model outputs were produced through the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) national carbon sequestration assessment of ecosystem carbon stocks, carbon sequestration, and greenhouse-gas fluxes under present conditions and future scenarios, required by the U.S. Congress (Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007). Under GEMS, soil carbon was estimated annually from 2006 to 2050 using three ecosystem models: the Erosion-Deposition-Carbon Model (EDCM), the CENTURY model, and a spreadsheet model. Change in carbon was based on land use-land cover change, simulations of areas burned by wildland fires, agricultural land management, climate, and other biophysical data. This rangelands project used the average of EDCM and CENTURY soil carbon model outputs for years 2010 and 2040 for each of three IPCC-SRES scenarios (A1B, A2 and B1).

The maps display the percent change in grassland soil carbon sequestration potential by watershed. Percent change in carbon sequestration potential is influenced by the extent of grassland conversion within a watershed over the 30 year time period. In most cases, grassland conversion to another land use such as development or intensive agriculture leads to a loss in soil carbon, and reduces the potential for future carbon sequestration.

More description at: http://climate.calcommons.org/aux/rangeland/cbMapDesc.html

Shapefiles included in attached file in parent DataSet