Friday, November 30. 2007

Using GIS to Predict Carbon Stores

A team from CIRAD (French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development, a French agricultural research centre working for international development) and partners have developed a method for mapping soil carbon reserves based on land use and environmental factors.

It was developed in India, at the centre of one of the 25 hot spots defined by biodiversity protection specialists. The new method comprises two stages. In the first, existing data are used to establish a model that subsequently serves to estimate carbon reserves depending on environmental parameters: location, geological substrate, physiographic information, plant cover and soil composition (gravel, clay, loam, sand, and obviously carbon).

In the case of India, these parameters were established for 361 soil profiles representing 1643 soil horizons selected based on numerous surveys and studies in the zone. The parameters were used to compile a database for the model. The model was then coupled with a geographic information system (GIS) containing maps of the same environmental parameters, so as to calculate carbon reserves at any point in the zone. The results obtained from these data for the different ecosystems encountered confirmed the mean values quoted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The method can also be used for other geographical zones, provided the relevant database is available for the zone in question.

Posted by Adena Schutzberg at 07:53 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) |

Comments

Display comments as (Linear | Threaded)

No comments

Add Comment

Name
Email
Homepage
In reply to	[ Top level ]
Comment	Enclosing asterisks marks text as bold (*word*), underscore are made via _word_. Standard emoticons like :-) and ;-) are converted to images. E-Mail addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for E-Mail notifications To prevent automated Bots from commentspamming, please enter the string you see in the image below in the appropriate input box. Your comment will only be submitted if the strings match. Please ensure that your browser supports and accepts cookies, or your comment cannot be verified correctly. Enter the string from the spam-prevention image above:
	Remember Information?   Subscribe to this entry