Forests play a pivotal role in mitigating climate change by absorbing and storing carbon. By developing and employing innovative carbon monitoring systems, and conducting research on aboveground carbon stores around the world, Woodwell researchers are creating important new knowledge about the Earth’s temperate, tropical and boreal forests and vegetation—and using it to protect them from deforestation, degradation and disturbance.

Projects

Amazon Deforestation & Fire Outlook

Radiative Forcing of Arctic Carbon

Employing soils as a carbon sink may prove to be an important climate change mitigation strategy. But as land use and ecosystems rapidly change, it can be difficult to estimate the size and distribution of soil carbon loss. Woodwell researchers are working to better map, measure, and monitor soil carbon in the Arctic, in rainforest ecosystems, and in agricultural regions across the United States and throughout the world.

Projects

Carbon Monitoring in Rangelands

Radiative Forcing of Arctic Carbon

Soil Spectroscopy for the Greater Good

Soils Revealed

Taking Stock of Soil Carbon

Coastal wetlands and marshes are critical biodiversity hotspots and protect communities from storms. They also act as important carbon sinks. Mangroves, for instance, contain 4.5 times the amount of carbon the U.S. emits each year. Woodwell researchers are working to better measure this “blue carbon”—the carbon captured and stored by the world’s coastal ecosystems—to understand its role in the global carbon cycle, and how we can protect these important ecosystems.

Projects

The TIDE Project

Radiative Forcing of Arctic Carbon

The global carbon budget describes the releases of carbon from fossil fuel combustion and land use, and how that carbon is taken up by the atmosphere, land, and oceans. This carbon budget is important for predicting future rates of climatic change—but many of the factors that go into the carbon budget are still unclear. Understanding the processes responsible for carbon sinks could improve models used to predict future climate change and determine limits to fossil fuel use to mitigate its effects.

Projects

Permafrost Pathways

Land as a Natural Climate Solution

Methane Cycling in Northern Forests

Addressing the climate crisis requires that we rapidly reduce carbon emissions while also implementing strategies to remove excess carbon from the atmosphere. Protecting, restoring, and better managing the planet’s lands can provide immediate carbon storage and climate mitigation, buying us time to decarbonize. Woodwell Climate researchers are at the forefront of exploring, vetting, and supporting natural climate solutions. Our collaborative approach and deep knowledge of land carbon dynamics – aboveground and in soils, from the Arctic to the tropics – are fundamental to realizing these solutions.

Projects

Land as a Natural Climate Solution

Climate Smart MV

Carbon Monitoring in Rangelands

Taking Stock of Soil Carbon