Estimating annual influx of carbon to harvested wood products linked to forest management activities using remote sensing

We develop a new framework, based on Landsat time series data and forest inventories, to estimate the carbon in roundwood harvested from forest management activities, which will enter the HWP pool and remain stored in end uses and landfills. The approach keeps the distinction between the carbon from different types of roundwood sources, which allows for better integration with the regional HWP carbon lifetime information. We show that existing methods that are based on large scale regional/national values and linear interpolation of data gaps, can provide only very approximate carbon estimates. The model was applied to a US state using county level data, but can also suit different areas as long as sufficient harvest records are available for calibration. The results can be used to study managed forests and evaluate the impact of forest policies on the carbon cycle at a detailed scale. The estimated quantity of carbon in roundwood harvest provides an upper bound on the gross carbon added to HWP in use, prior to deductions from losses. Our results can also be coupled with mill processing efficiency estimate and wood product life cycle analysis to better understand the effect of forest management activities on the carbon cycle.