Harvard Forest 28-year CO2 flux record validates forest finance model for local-to-global forest management applications
Abstract
Trading of sequestered forest carbon is a minor component of carbon market transactions, does not deter deforestation or incentivize sustainable management. We describe and analyze 28 years of CO2 flux at the Harvard Forest (HF), Petersham, MA, USA, elucidating, retrospectively, physiological and financial time series, validating a direct measurement CO2 flux methodology to quantify carbon offsets, including isotopologues, for carbon trading. In contrast, estimation protocols do not observe CO2 at any point in the carbon offset process and cannot be validated retrospectively. We explore the projected revenue of the HF net ecosystem exchange (NEE) record with pricing at 10 and 30 per metric tonne CO2, as well as illustrate the impact of project exits based on estimation protocols, such as the Climate Action Reserve, and a tonne-year accounting protocol. The mean and standard deviation of weekly and annual NEE was -18.4 ± 80.4 and -978 ± 553 gCO2 m-2, respectively. 2010 was an anomalous year with very low sequestration of -4.21 gCO2 m-2 where dollar income fell to 0.42 ha-1 (10 tCO2) emphasizing high interannual variance and the need for direct measurement of NEE. Despite large metabolism that amounts to Reco being 45% of NEE, this 100+ year old forest is still accumulating carbon. Carbon trading strategies are discussed across the temporal scale of HF NEE data ranging from hours to years. Measuring the net CO2 exchange provides a complement to other quantification schemes such as biomass inventory. A network of eddy covariance platforms across the New England region could provide a diversified forest carbon portfolio producing revenue and data to assess regional changes to forests as a result of climate change.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2020
- Bibcode:
- 2020AGUFMB108.0016B
- Keywords:
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- 0414 Biogeochemical cycles;
- processes;
- and modeling;
- BIOGEOSCIENCES;
- 0428 Carbon cycling;
- BIOGEOSCIENCES;
- 0466 Modeling;
- BIOGEOSCIENCES;
- 0480 Remote sensing;
- BIOGEOSCIENCES