Carbon Flux to the Atmosphere from Land-Use Changes: 1850-2005

This database provides estimates of regional and global net carbon fluxes, on a year-by-year basis from 1850 through 2005, resulting from changes in land use (such as harvesting of forest products and clearing for agriculture), taking into account not only the initial removal and oxidation of the carbon in the vegetation, but also subsequent regrowth and changes in soil carbon. The net flux of carbon to the atmosphere from changes in land use from 1850 to 2005 was modeled as a function of documented land-use change and changes in aboveground and belowground carbon following changes in land use. This database updates and replaces the previous Carbon Flux to the Atmosphere from Land-Use Changes: 1850-1990, NDP-050 (Houghton and Hackler, 2001. doi 10.3334/CDIAC/lue.ndp050.) The initial publication of these data at CDIAC was as a numerical data package (NDP) entitled: 'Continental scale estimates of the biotic carbon flux from land cover change: 1850-1980 (CDIAC NDP-050)'. These data were revised and extended to the year 1990, and were made available online as (CDIAC NDP-050/R1). These data were further revised and extended through the year 2000 and included in CDIAC's online TRENDS database. This database reflects the revision of rates of land-use change as described above, and an extension of the data through the year 2005. Please note that recorded values outside of the tropics after 1990 represent crude estimations and not new calculations.