First Nationwide Carbon Survey Completed in Panama
March 19, 2012
The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute hosted a team from the Carnegie Institution for Science that just completed the firstever nationwide survey of tropical forest carbon stocks using airborne LiDAR technology in Panama
The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute hosted a team from the Carnegie Institution for Science that just completed the firstever nationwide survey of tropical forest carbon stocks using airborne LiDAR technology in Panama. New three-dimensional, landscape level maps of carbon stocks, forest habitat and biodiversity will fill crucial gaps in carbon estimation and monitoring that are instrumental to climate change mitigation policies.
“This is the first time that we’ve mapped an entire country as a model for many programs, one being the United Nations Framework on Climate Change,” said Greg Asner, staff scientist at the Institution, “The U.N. has been working to develop agreements to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses that result from deforestation and forest degradation. To do that in countries around the world, you need to accurately monitor forests at a landscape level.”
A Dornier 228 twin turboprop aircraft outfitted with three types of sensors flew transects across Panama’s 29,340 square miles of land area, covering lowland and dry tropical forests, cloud forests and mangrove ecosystems.
For more information about the, visit stri.si.edu and cao.stanford.edu
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