Below-ground Biomass Carbon

Description

This indicator measures the amount of carbon stored below the soil surface in plant root systems, expressed in tonnes of carbon per hectare. Estimates are calculated annually from 2001 onwards, using vegetation type and environmental data to model root biomass and its carbon content.

To improve accuracy, the calculations also consider the presence or absence of burned areas during the analysed years. Monitoring below-ground carbon complements above-ground estimates, providing a more complete picture of total ecosystem carbon balance and resilience.

What it measures

• Carbon stored in plant root systems.
• Annual changes in below-ground biomass carbon (2001–2022).
• Contribution of root biomass to total ecosystem carbon stocks.

How to interpret

• Lower values: disturbed or degraded ecosystems with reduced root biomass.
• Higher values: intact ecosystems with extensive vegetation root systems.
• Changes over time reflect both disturbance (fire, deforestation) and recovery (natural regrowth, restoration).

Unit / Scale

Tonnes of carbon per hectare (tC/ha).
Temporal coverage: 2001–2022.
Spatial resolution: 309 m.
Update frequency: Annual.

Author / Source

Lemu — integrating global land cover, biomass, and fire datasets.

Key sources include:

• Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S): Land cover classification maps.
• Gibbs, H. K., & Ruesch, A. — IPCC Tier-1 Global Biomass Carbon Map (2000).
• Giglio, L., Justice, C., Boschetti, L., & Roy, D. (2021). MODIS Burned Area Dataset (NASA EOSDIS).

🔗 https://climate.copernicus.eu
🔗 https://daac.ornl.gov/cgi-bin/dsviewer.pl?ds_id=932

Applications in Atlas

• Quantify below-ground contributions to carbon storage.
• Track changes in ecosystem resilience under disturbance and restoration.
• Improve completeness of carbon accounting for conservation and climate strategies.
• Provide data for climate risk assessments and reporting.