Despite accounting for around 0.025 percent of the mass of Earth’s crust, carbon is vital for life on our planet. This element, number six on the periodic table, is a core component of DNA. It’s also found in Earth’s atmosphere, bound to oxygen atoms to form carbon dioxide, or CO2 . Humans and other animals release CO2 back into the atmosphere whenever they breathe. Plants and trees depend on CO2 for photosynthesis. But they also require carbon more directly. The physical structure of plants is primarily carbon, and around half the dry weight of all wood is carbon. There’s no way around it: Life, as we know it, simply does not exist without carbon.
Although most of Earth’s carbon is stored in rocks, climate scientists are especially interested in the carbon stored in plants and trees. As trees die or burn, they release carbon and CO2 back into the environment. And while they live, they use and store carbon. So, it is helpful to know where—and by how much—trees are doing this. That’s a question addressed by a recent research paper. The study quantifies the existing and potential carbon storage in woody plant biomass and organic soil matter on a global scale. Using data from this research, Christina Shintani and Greg Fiske—cartographers with the Woodwell Climate Research Center—mapped the stored carbon in US forests.
The map presents a gorgeous view reminiscent of a landcover map, with subtle hints of the topography and waterways of the country. Beyond simply showing where forests are, however, the map expertly depicts the quantity of stored carbon across the landscape. Shades of tan give way to yellows, greens, and ultimately, a bright teal to indicate the megagrams of carbon stored in every hectare. Patterns and variations are immediately obvious. Areas dense with carbon, like the Cascade Range and the Great Smoky Mountains, immediately stand out. So too do those with less carbon than their surroundings, like the Black Belt Prairie. Shintani and Fiske include several annotations that guide and inform, explaining why forests in the southeast differ in their carbon storage than those in the northeast and northwest.
Maps like this are a wonderful way to get research results to a broader audience. But this map is also beautiful and has utility far beyond that of a scientific graphic. Readers can pore over its details, learn about their local areas, and view the landscape of the US in a new, more nuanced light. And they can do so without even realizing they’re consuming the results of a research paper.
More to Explore
- Watch carbon dioxide mix and move throughout Earth’s atmosphere over the course of a year.
- View a high-resolution model of carbon dioxide produced by NASA.
