Monitoring the carbon storage change in Tonghua City of Changbai mountain area

Abstract

Estimation of carbon storage in terrestrial ecosystems is vital for research on atmospheric greenhouse gases and global carbon cycle. Based on Landsat TM/ETM+ images, land use / cover changes in Tonghua City of Changbai Mountain area, China during 1986-2008 was analyzed in this study. The carbon storage in terrestrial ecosystems of the study area was quantitatively estimated using InVEST model. CA-Marcov model was used to forecast land use / cover and carbon storage in the year of 2016. The results show that total carbon storage in terrestrial ecosystems of Tonghua in 1986 was about 7932.64×10 4 tons. From 1986 to 1996, carbon storage reduced by 0.6%. However, it increased by 0.1% in 2000 and 4% in 2008, respectively. The forecasted carbon storage in 2016 would be 8296.56×10 4 tons, increased by 4.6%. The total area of forest in Tonghua was 8.0×103km2 in 1986, taking up 54% of the land. In 1996, the percentage of forestland dropped to 53%, while it rose to 54% in 2000 and 59% in 2008. The predicted area of woodland in 2016 increased to 10338.7km 2 , which might be influenced by the implementation of returning farmland to forest project since 1998. With the area of forestland increased in Tonghua, the carbon storage tended to rise.