The Current Carbon Stock — Below-Ground Biomass (BGB) layer quantifies the carbon stored in root systems beneath the soil surface, expressed in tonnes of carbon per hectare (tC/ha). Below-ground biomass encompasses all living root tissue, including coarse roots (> 2 mm diameter), fine roots, rhizomes, and root-associated mycorrhizal networks. While less visible than above-ground biomass, BGB plays a crucial role in the global carbon cycle.
Root carbon typically constitutes 20-30% of total living biomass in temperate forests and up to 40-60% in grasslands and shrublands, where root allocation is proportionally higher. BGB is essential for accurate total biomass carbon accounting, as omitting roots can underestimate living biomass carbon by 20-40%. The dataset derives from Walker et al. (2022), with the BGB pool isolated and downscaled using Random Forest regression with satellite-derived features.
BGB is particularly important for:
Random Forest downscaling pipeline for BGB extraction:
Output unit: tC/ha (tonnes of carbon per hectare, BGB pool only)
| Code | Name | Provider | Type | Coverage | Resolution | Reference Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Walker 2022 | Global Carbon Density (BGB) | Walker et al. / S3 | Raster (COG) | Global | ~300 m | 2016 |
COPERNICUS/S2_SR_HARMONIZED | Sentinel-2 L2A | ESA/Copernicus | Multispectral | Global | 10 m | 2017 — present |
GOOGLE/DYNAMICWORLD/V1 | Dynamic World | Google/WRI | Land cover | Global | 10 m | 2015 — present |
USGS/SRTMGL1_003 | SRTM DEM | NASA/USGS | Elevation | 60N-56S | 30 m | 2000 |
| Indicator | Unit | Range | Inverted |
|---|---|---|---|
carbon_stock_current_bgb | tC/ha | [0, 2, 8, 20, 40, 80] | No |
Inverted = No: a higher value indicates greater below-ground carbon storage.
| Level | Thresholds | Interpretation |
|---|---|---|
| E (Very Low) | < 2 tC/ha | Bare soil, urban, desert — negligible root biomass |
| D (Low) | 2-8 tC/ha | Sparse grasslands, annual croplands with shallow roots |
| C (Moderate) | 8-20 tC/ha | Perennial grasslands, young forests, agroforestry |
| B (High) | 20-40 tC/ha | Mature temperate forests with deep root systems |
| A (Very High) | > 40 tC/ha | Tropical forests, old-growth forests with extensive root networks |
Il layer Carbon Stock Attuale - BGB viene calcolato estraendo la componente di biomassa sotterranea (Below-Ground Biomass) dalla mappa globale di densita di carbonio di Walker et al. (2022). La biomassa sotterranea comprende il carbonio presente nei sistemi radicali: radici grossolane (> 2 mm), radici fini, rizomi e reti micorriziche. Il pool BGB viene isolato dalla mappa di carbonio totale e raffinato tramite Random Forest con NDVI (Sentinel-2), copertura del suolo (Dynamic World) ed elevazione (SRTM) come predittori. La stima BGB si basa su rapporti allometrici radice:parte aerea specifici per tipo di vegetazione. Output in tC/ha a ~200 m di risoluzione.