What is the value of agricultural census data in carbon cycle studies?

• Published in: Journal of Geophysical Research Vol. 116; no. G3
• Main Authors: Chan, Eric C., Lin, John C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.09.2011
• Subjects: Agricultural land; agricultural statistics; Agriculture; Biogeochemistry; Carbon; Carbon cycle; Carbon footprint; Census; cropland; Crops; Environmental accounting; Geobiology; Geophysics; Harvesting; High performance computing; Monte Carlo simulation; Primary production; Spatial distribution; Sustainability reporting; Systems science; uncertainties

Agricultural census data have been identified as possessing the potential to provide constraints on modeled carbon uptake by croplands at the regional scale. In this study, we build on previous efforts and further assess this potential quantitatively by comparing (1) fractional cropland coverage in...