Summary: | To better understand how carbon responses to changes in climate and other drivers in Alaska might influence national climate and carbon management policies, the U.S. Geological Survey, in collaboration with the USDA Forest Service and university scientists, has conducted a comprehensive assessment of the historical (1960-2009) and projected (2010-2099) carbon balance for Alaska. This assessment of carbon dynamics in Alaska includes (1) syntheses of soil, vegetation, and surface water carbon stocks and fluxes in Alaska, and (2) state of the art models of fire dynamics, vegetation change, forest management, permafrost dynamics, and upland, wetland, and surface water ecosystem carbon dynamics. Here we report on progress in the soils synthesis, fire and vegetation dynamics synthesis, and syntheses of upland, wetland, and inland waters components.
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