Quantification of carbon fluxes in tropical deciduous forests using satellite data

Abstract

Abstract Biomass burning in tropics is causing drastic changes in physical, chemical and biological properties of earth's atmosphere. Biomass burning associated with slash and burn agriculture is one of the major cause of Green House Gas emissions. In the present study, study are covering tropical deciduous forests having slash and burn agriculture practice, has been considered for studying carbon dynamics. Satellite data pertaining to IRS-1C LISS III satellite data has been used for stratification of vegetation into different communities. Second order texture measures Semivariograms, Angular Second Moment (ASM) and Inverse Difference Moment (IDM) and NDVI textural algorithm have been used to capture spatial information from forest stands. Biomass estimations have been done through regression equations by using girth measurements obtained through field studies. Satellite data has been used to quantify the amount of biomass burnt in respective vegetation types. Results of the study through textural measures suggest high heterogeneity in canopy diversity for mixed dry deciduous forests. ASM and IDM are found to be high for pure stands of dry deciduous forests. NDVI textural algorithm detected a low spatial variability with respect to mixed dry deciduous forests suggesting homogeneity in plant biomass spatial variability. The average mean carbon storage has been found to be 64.34 t ha −1 C for dry deciduous forests, 129.0 t ha −1 C for mixed dry deciduous forests and 0.02 t ha −1 C for mixed scrub forests. Potential Net primary productivity for the forests ranged from 26.07 to 11.73 t ha −1 yr −1 , when compared to actual productivity of 0.1 t ha −1 yr −1 to 4.6 t ha −1 yr −1 . Mean carbon storage for plantations, above ground, below ground and total carbon has been found to be 16.84, 3.36 and 20.2 t ha −1 C respectively. Dry matter burnt in gms (M) obtained from satellite derived areal estimates has been found to be 1.344 X 10 12 gms. Area weighted carbon release for the total study area has been found to be 1.41 Mt. Trace gas emissions calculated based on M value suggested that CH 3 , CO, NO and NO X account for about 0.0107Mt, 0.09408 Mt, 7.392 X 10 −5 Mt, and 2.67 X 10 −5 Mt respectively. Quantification of carbon fluxes over a period of century from 1900 to 2000 through Century Ecosystem Model suggested that Soil organic matter decreased from initial levels of 3450 g/m 2 to less than 3150 g/m 2 and forest carbon from 3100 g/m 2 in 1900 to less than 100 g/m 2 beyond 2000 century.