Part 3—Explore Carbon in New Hampshire's Forests

Step 1 – Open and Examine the FIA State Carbon Summary Data

  1. Launch Excel and select File > Open, and navigate to where you stored FIA_State_Carbon.xls. When the file opens, the title page is displayed. The data are summarized by region and separately by state.
    FIA-state-summary.png


  2. Use the arrows along the bottom of the page to navigate between tabs. Look over the data, and then select the New Hampshire (NH) tab. All tabs include the same six tables.

    The data collected in the Forest Inventory Analysis (FIA) program is widely diverse in both type and location. To calculate carbon storage values, scientists use forest collection techniques such as measuring tree diameter and soil coring to derive the amounts of biomass and carbon storage.
  3. You will use data from Table 2, area of forest land by forest type, Table 3, total carbon stock on forest land and annual change by forest type (MMTC) and Table 4, total carbon stock on forest land and annual change by accounting component (MMTC). MMTC stands for million metric tons of carbon.


    Data is shown for three separate years, 1987, 1992, and 1997 as well as the average annual change between each measurement year. You will investigate data from measurement year 1997.

Step 2 – Check Your Understanding of the FIA State Carbon Summary Data

Answer the following questions:
  • How many total acres of forest land were there in New Hampshire in 1997?
  • Which New Hampshire forest type has the greatest carbon stock in 1997?
  • What is the average annual change in forest carbon storage between 1987 and 1997?

In this dataset, Biomass refers to the carbon in the living components of the forest (stem, leaves, branches and roots). Carbon is also stored in the forest floor (leaf litter and dead wood) and in soil. We want to calculate biomass fraction which is the fraction of the total carbon in the forest that is stored in the living tree.

Step 3 – Open and Examine the Carbon Scenario Template

  1. Select File > Open, and navigate to the file Carbon_Scenario_Template.xls. It opens to the US-RockyMtn_Pacific tab. The groupings of tree species are different in this geographic area. We are investigating NH, in the East. Click on the image to view a larger one.
    carbon scenario template first open tab

  2. Click on the US_East_Central tab. Click the center of the image to view a larger one.
    East-central tab of Carbon Scenario template

    Here is information about the columns in the template.


    • The red triangles at the top of each column indicate there is a comment about that column. These provide information about where the data in each column has come from or how it has been calculated.
    • Data from FIA_State_Carbon.xls will be copied into the blue columns.
    • The yellow column is data on foliar nitrogen from a variety of sources. To learn more about the foliar nitrogen data view the foliar nitrogen tabs at the bottom of the spreadsheet.
    • Green columns are values computed by and transferred from the STELLA Biomass Accumulation Model.
    • Orange cells are the comparison values between FIA carbon storage data and carbon storage data predicted by the model.
    • White columns are values calculated by the template.
    • The last five columns convert the predicted values in gC/m2 to million metric tons of carbon (MMTC).

Step 4 – Copy FIA data for NH 1997 into the Carbon Scenario Template

  1. Make sure both the FIA_State_Carbon.xls and the Carbon_Scenario_Template.xls files are open.
  2. Copy the Area of forest land by forest type (1000 ac) in 1997 from Table 2 of the FIA State Carbon Summary data. Paste into the Acres (1000ac) column of the Carbon Scenario Template. Thousands of acres will be automatically converted to acres in the second column of the template.
  3. Copy the Total carbon stock on forest land (MMTC) in 1997 from Table 3 of the FIA State Carbon Summary data and paste in the Total Forest Carbon Stock (MMTC) column in the Carbon Scenario Template.
  4. Divide the Biomass component for 1997 in Table 4 (153.6) by the TOTAL carbon stock in 1997 (521.7) to determine the fractional component of carbon in biomass (the Biomass Fraction).
    (Biomass/Total) = Biomass fraction
    (153.6/521.7) = 0.29
    Table4Equation


    In the Carbon Stock Scenario Template file, enter the equation 153.6/521.7, which begins with an "=" character, in the first cell in the "Biomass component of total" column or just type in the decimal fraction you calculate. For this example, the value is 0.29. Copy the equation or decimal value to all cells in the column. Note: depending upon your version of Excel, the value .29 may be rounded to .30 and your resulting numbers may be slightly different.
  5. Studies (i.e. Bolte et al. 2004) have shown that 87% of total tree biomass is found in above-ground plant parts (stem, branches, leaves) while 13% is located below ground in coarse and fine roots. We will focus on only the above-ground biomass component of carbon storage, primarily because that is what the current model is capable of predicting.

  6. For this example using New Hampshire in the Carbon Scenario Template, the foliar nitrogen data has been copied to the Template(US-East_Central) tab from the FoliarN-(East_Central) tab. If you were working with a state in the Rocky Mountain or Pacific region, then the data would come from the FoliarN-(RockyMtn_Pacific) tab.
  7. Select File > Save As to save the worksheet and give it a new name, like NH_FIA_data.xls.
  8. If you had any difficulties with this part, or would like to check your work, here is a Template spreadsheet with Step 4 completed (e.g. NH values copied and pasted in appropriate columns): NH_FIA_data2.xls (Excel 70kB Sep11 11).