Assessment of suitable areas for afforestation and its carbon sink value in fragile ecological areas of northern China.

Afforestation and reforestation are pivotal in mitigating land degradation and bolstering the carbon sink capacity of terrestrial ecosystems. However, the potential economic ramifications of afforestation and reforestation in the context of climate change remain largely unexplored. In this study, we employed an interdisciplinary methodology to establish a framework for assessing future forest potential and carbon sequestration in the Eastern Loess Plateau region of China.

Improved estimation of aboveground biomass of regional coniferous forests integrating UAV-LiDAR strip data, Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 imageries.

Background: Forest aboveground biomass (AGB) is not only the basis for estimating forest carbon storage, but also an important parameter for evaluating forest carbon cycle contribution and forest ecological function. Data saturation and fewer field plots limit the accuracy of AGB estimation. In response to these questions, we constructed a point-line-polygon framework for regional coniferous forests AGB mapping using field survey data, UAV-LiDAR strip data, Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 imageries in this study.