Dynamics of Russian forests and the carbon budget in 1961-1998: An assessment based on long-term forest inventory data

Development trends of Russian forests and their impact on the global carbon budget were assessed at the national level on the basis of long-term forest inventory data (1961-1998). Over this period, vegetation of Russian forest lands are estimated as a carbon sink, with an annual average level of carbon sequestration in vegetational organic matter of 210 +/- 30 Tg C . yr(-)1 (soil carbon is not considered in this study), of which 153 Tg C . yr(-1) were accumulated in live biomass and 57 Tg C . yr(-1) in dead wood. The temporal variability of the sink is very large; for the five-year averages used in the analysis, the C sequestration varies from about 60 to above 300 Tg C . yr(-1). It is shown that long-term forest inventory data could serve as an important information base for assessing crucial indicators of full carbon accounting of forests.