Amazon Forest Structure from Airborne Lidar, ED2 Initial Condition Files, 2016

This dataset provides initial condition files for initializing the Ecosystem Demography Model (ED2). This dataset holds regional forest structure characteristics across the Brazilian Amazon that were derived from 545 airborne lidar transects (300 x 12500 m each) acquired during the Amazon Biomass Estimation Project (EBA2016) campaign in 2016. These data contain vertical distributions of stem density, carbon storage, and other vegetation traits for over 1,300,000 columns (50 x 50 m each) that were aggregated into 288 grid cells (1 x 1 degree). This dataset also contains soil edaphic characteristics obtained from existing datasets and carbon stored in litter and soil layers estimated from the land use history and limited measurements in different land use types. Three types of files are provided: Site files (*.sss) hold soil and terrain characteristics. Patch files (*.sss) hold patch location, area, disturbance type, stem density, stem basal area, leaf area index (LAI), aboveground biomass (AGB), along with carbon and nitrogen density in several categories for patches within sites. Cohort files (*.css) hold diameter at breast height, plant height, stem density, mass of living and dead biomass, LAI, AGB), and plant functional type for cohorts of stems within patches and sites. The data are provided in text format compatible with the ED2 model.