Collaborative Research: The Northeastern Carbon Sink: Enhanced Growth, Regrowth, or Both?

碳在美国的树木中积累，从而减少了向大气中进一步积累的二氧化碳。然而，这种积累是否会继续是不确定的，因为不知道其中有多少是由环境变化导致的增长速度加快引起的（表明未来碳储量增加），又有多少是由于早期干扰后的再生长引起的（表明未来积累减少）。本研究旨在确定东北森林生长和再生长对碳积累的相对贡献。这个问题将从三个方面解决：通过分析美国森林清查和分析（FIA）的大量但以前无法获取的数据集；通过将这些FIA数据与森林碳模型的模拟模型进行比较（以检验促进生长的假设）；并通过重新分析土地利用、管理和干扰的历史模式（以检验再生假设）。这项工作解决了美国气候变化科学计划的主要目标之一，即确定碳积累的幅度和机制。这项工作还将向公众展示东北地区50年来的树木生长记录。

Carbon is accumulating in the trees of the US, thereby reducing further accumulation of CO2 to the atmosphere. Whether this accumulation will continue is uncertain, however, because it is not known how much of it is caused by enhanced rates of growth from environmental change (suggesting an increased carbon storage in the future), and how much of it is attributable simply to regrowth following earlier disturbances (suggesting a diminished accumulation in the future). This work seeks to determine the relative contributions of enhanced growth and regrowth to carbon accumulation in the forests of the Northeast. The question will be tackled from three directions: by analyzing the large but previously inaccessible data sets of the US Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA); by comparison of these FIA data to model simulations of a forest carbon model (to test the hypothesis of enhanced growth); and by reanalyzing historical patterns of land use, management and disturbance (to test the regrowth hypothesis). The work addresses one of the primary goals of the US Climate Change Science Program to determine the magnitude and mechanisms for the accumulation of carbon. The work will also make accessible to the public the 50-year record of tree growth in the Northeast.