Dataset for "Changes in Global Terrestrial Live Biomass over the 21st Century"

Live woody vegetation is the largest reservoir of biomass carbon with its restoration considered one of the most effective natural climate solutions. However, carbon fluxes associated with terrestrial ecosystems still remain the largest source of uncertainty of the global carbon balance. Here, we develop spatially explicit estimates of global carbon stock changes of live woody biomass from 2000 to 2019 using measurements from ground, air, and space. We show live biomass has removed 4.9-5.5 PgC yr-1 from the atmosphere in this century, offsetting 4.6±0.1 PgC yr-1 of gross emissions from land-use and environmental disturbances and adding substantially (0.23-0.88 PgC yr-1) to the global carbon stocks. Gross emissions and removals in the tropics were four times larger than temperate and boreal ecosystems combined. Although live biomass is responsible for more than 80% of gross terrestrial fluxes, soil, dead organic matter, and lateral transport may play important roles in terrestrial carbon sink.