Monitoring Carbon Stock Changes in European Forests Using Forest Inventory Data

Abstract

The concentrations of CO2 and CH4 in the atmosphere are at the highest level they have been in the past 650,000 years. "The Continental-Scale Greenhouse Gas Balance of Europe", edited by A. Johannes Dolman, Annette Freibauer and Riccardo Valentini, highlights current results of research into the European greenhouse gases budget, including human-induced and biospheric sources and sinks. Much of this work is executed through the CarboEurope project, one of the world’s foremost research programs on continental-scale carbon cycle research. The book assesses the current greenhouse gas (GHG) monitoring capabilities of Europe, identifies and quantifies the uncertainties involved, and outlines the direction of a continental-scale GHG monitoring network. The chapters provide a synthesis based on current research results of the European greenhouse gases budget, its sources and sinks and uniquely addresses both the methodology of carbon cycle science and the science itself. It aims to provide a synthesis of terrestrial carbon cycle science at the continental scale. At the same time both the individual chapters and concluding chapter outline the directions to and requirements for a pan-continental greenhouse gas monitoring network. The book provides the first comprehensive coverage of methodological and scientific aspects of a full GHG accounting and monitoring system.