Forest greenhouse gas net flux

This carbon removals layer is part of the forest carbon flux model described in Harris et al. (2021). This paper introduces a geospatial monitoring framework for estimating global forest carbon fluxes which can assist a variety of actors and organizations with tracking greenhouse gas fluxes from forests and in decreasing emissions or increasing removals by forests. Forest carbon removals from the atmosphere (sequestration) by forest sinks represent the cumulative carbon captured (megagrams CO2/ha) by the growth of established and newly regrowing forests during the model period between 2001-2025. Removals include accumulation of carbon in both aboveground and belowground live tree biomass. Following IPCC Tier 1 assumptions for forests remaining forests, removals by dead wood, litter, and soil carbon pools are assumed to be zero. In each pixel, carbon removals are calculated following IPCC Guidelines for national greenhouse gas inventories where forests existed in 2000 or were established between 2000 and 2020 according to Potapov et al. (2022). Atmospheric carbon removed in each pixel is based on maps of forest type (e.g., mangrove, plantation), ecozone (e.g., humid Neotropics), forest age (e.g., primary, old secondary), and number of years of carbon removal. This layer reflects the cumulative removals during the model period (2001-2025) and must be divided by 25 to obtain an annual average during the model duration; removal rates cannot be assigned to individual years of the model. All input layers were resampled to a common resolution of 0.00025 x 0.00025 degrees each to match Hansen et al. (2013). We have made several updates to the model since its original release. For documentation through the current version, please refer to this blog. For a more detailed description of the changes included through the 2023 tree cover loss launch (released spring 2024) and a comparison of the model's fluxes with those from the Global Carbon Budget and national greenhouse gas inventories, please refer to Gibbs et al. (2025). Removals are available for download in two different area units over the model duration: 1) megagrams of CO2 removed/ha, and 2) megagrams of CO2 removed/pixel. The first is appropriate for visualizing (mapping) removals because it represents the density of removals per hectare. The second is appropriate for calculating the removals in an area of interest (AOI) because the values of the pixels in the AOI can be summed to obtain the total removals for that area. The values in the latter were calculated by adjusting the removals per hectare by the size of each pixel, which varies by latitude. When estimating removals occurring over a defined number of years between 2001 and 2025 to compare to emissions, divide total carbon removals by the model duration and then multiply by the number of years in the period of interest. Both datasets only include pixels within forests, as defined in the methods of Harris et al. (2021) and updated with tree cover gain through 2020. Download data from here. Access data on GEE here Displays forest carbon removals by forest sinks

This emissions layer is part of the forest carbon flux model described in Harris et al. (2021). This paper introduces a geospatial monitoring framework for estimating global forest carbon fluxes which can assist a variety of actors and organizations with tracking greenhouse gas fluxes from forests and in decreasing emissions or increasing removals by forests. Forest carbon emissions represent the greenhouse gas emissions arising from stand-replacing forest disturbances that occurred in each modeled year (megagrams CO2e emissions/ha, between 2001 and 2025). Emissions include all relevant ecosystem carbon pools (aboveground biomass, belowground biomass, dead wood, litter, soil organic carbon) and greenhouse gases (CO2, NH4, N2O). Emissions estimates for each pixel are calculated following IPCC Guidelines for national greenhouse gas inventories where stand-replacing disturbance occurred, as mapped in the Global Forest Change annual tree cover loss data of Hansen et al. (2013). The carbon emitted from each pixel is based on carbon densities in 2000, with adjustment for carbon accumulated between 2000 and the year of disturbance. Emissions reflect a gross estimate, i.e., carbon removals from subsequent regrowth are not included. Instead, gross carbon removals resulting from subsequent regrowth after clearing are accounted for in the companion forest carbon removals layer. The fraction of carbon emitted from each pixel upon disturbance (emission factor) is affected by several factors, including the direct driver of disturbance, whether fire was observed in the year of or preceding the observed disturbance event, whether the disturbance occurred on peat, and more. All emissions are assumed to occur in the year of disturbance. Emissions can be assigned to a specific year using the Hansen tree cover loss data; separate rasters for emissions for each year are not available from GNW. All input layers were resampled to a common resolution of 0.00025 × 0.00025 degrees each to match Hansen et al. (2013). We have made several updates to the model since its original release. For documentation through the current version, please refer to this blog. For a more detailed description of the changes included through the 2023 tree cover loss launch (released spring 2024) and a comparison of the model's fluxes with those from the Global Carbon Budget and national greenhouse gas inventories, please refer to Gibbs et al. (2025). Three variations of emissions rasters are available for download:    1) megagrams CO2e emissions/ha in pixels with >30% tree cover density (TCD) in 2000 or tree cover gain: Used for visualizing (mapping) emissions according to the default GNW TCD threshold because it represents the density of emissions per hectare. You would use this if you want to only include emissions in pixels that are more conservatively defined as forest.    2) megagrams CO2e emissions/pixel in pixels with >30% TCD in 2000 or tree cover gain: Used for calculating the emissions in an area of interest (AOI) according to the default GNW TCD threshold because the values of the pixels in the AOI can be summed to obtain the total emissions for that area. You would use this if you want to only include emissions in pixels that are more conservatively defined as forest.    3) megagrams CO2e emissions/pixel in pixels with any amount of tree cover in 2000 or tree cover gain: Used for calculating the emissions in an area of interest (AOI) without any TCD threshold because the values of the pixels in the AOI can be summed to obtain the total emissions for that area. This would represent the total emissions from tree cover loss in the AOI without applying a TCD threshold. You would use this if you want to include emissions in pixels that have low (<30%) TCD in 2000. The values in the megagrams CO2e/pixel layers were calculated by adjusting the emissions per hectare by the size of each pixel, which varies by latitude. Tree cover density in 2000 is according to Hansen et al. (2013) and tree cover gain between 2000 to 2020 is according to Potapov et al. (2022). Download data from here. Access data on GEE here Displays forest greenhouse gas emissions from stand-replacing disturbances

This data set, a collaboration between the GLAD (Global Land Analysis & Discovery) lab at the University of Maryland, Google, USGS, and NASA, measures areas of net tree cover change across all global land (except Antarctica and other Arctic islands) at the administrative area. The data shows how much more or less tree cover a given area (country, state/province, or county/municipality) had in 2020 compared to 2000. This is not an annual data set and is displayed as a 20-year cumulative layer with a baseline year of 2000 and end year of 2020. Tree cover change was determined using tree cover extent for the years 2000 and 2020, which are based on tree height information. Tree height was determined by the integration of the Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) lidar forest structure measurements and Landsat analysis-ready data time-series. The NASA GEDI is a spaceborne lidar instrument operating onboard the International Space Station since April 2019. It provides point-based measurements of vegetation structure, including forest canopy height between 52°N and 52°S globally. The tree cover extent maps for 2000 and 2000 were produced by attributing pixels with ≥5 m height as the tree cover extent. The tree cover gain or loss was derived from a comparison between the year 2000 and 2020 maps, with steps taken to eliminate small changes in height which are “noise” in the data. The net change corresponds to the area of gross gain minus the area of gross loss to show the overall change. The net change percent per administrative region was then derived by calculating tree cover gain or loss as a percentage of the baseline 2000 tree cover area.   **Stable forest** – Area of tree cover that remained at or above 5m in height between 2000 and 2020.   **Gain** – Area of tree cover that was below 5m height in 2000 but at or above 5m height in 2020.   **Loss** – Area of tree cover that was at or above 5m height in 2000 but below 5m height in 2020.   **Disturbed** - Represents areas that experienced both loss and gain between 2000 and 2020.   Identifies net tree cover change

Net flux of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the category "Forest land".

Net flux of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the category "Deforestation".

- This data set, a collaboration between the Global Land Analysis & Discovery (GLAD) () lab at the University of Maryland (UMD), Google, USGS, and NASA, measures areas of tree cover loss across all global land (except - Antarctica and other Arctic islands) at approximately 30 × 30 meter resolution. The data were generated using multispectral satellite imagery from the Landsat 5 thematic mapper (TM), the Landsat 7 thematic mapper plus (ETM+), and the Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) sensors. Over 1 million satellite images were processed and analyzed, including over 600,000 Landsat 7 images for the 2000-2012 interval, and more than 400,000 Landsat 5, 7, and 8 images for updates for the 2011-2022 interval, and additional images used for 2023, 2024 and 2025. The clear land surface observations in the satellite images were assembled and a supervised learning algorithm was applied to identify per pixel tree cover loss.  - In this data set, “tree cover” is defined as all vegetation greater than 5 meters in height, and may take the form of natural forests or plantations across a range of canopy densities. Tree cover loss is defined as “stand replacement disturbance” which is considered to be clearing of at least half of tree cover within a 30-meter pixel. The exact threshold is variable both through space and time, and is biome-dependent. Tree cover loss may be the result of human activities, including forestry practices such as timber harvesting or deforestation (the conversion of natural forest to other land uses), as well as natural causes such as disease or storm damage. Fire is another widespread cause of tree cover loss, and can be either natural or human-induced.  - This data set has been updated five times since its creation, and now includes loss up to 2025 (Version 1.13). The analysis method has been modified in numerous ways, including new data for the target year, re-processed data for previous years (2011 and 2012 for the Version 1.1 update, 2012 and 2013 for the Version 1.2 update, and 2014 for the Version 1.3 update), and improved modelling and calibration. These modifications improve change detection for 2011-2025, including better detection of boreal loss due to fire, smallholder rotation agriculture in tropical forests, selective losing, and short cycle plantations. Since the entire historical timeseries was not reprocessed with the updated methodology, time-series assessments should be performed with caution. Read more about the Version 1.13 update here:  and access on GEE here: .  - When zoomed out (< zoom level 13), pixels of loss are shaded according to the density of loss at the 30 x 30 meter scale. Pixels with darker shading represent areas with a higher concentration of tree cover loss, whereas pixels with lighter shading indicate a lower concentration of tree cover loss. There is no variation in pixel shading when the data is at full resolution (≥ zoom level 13).  - The tree cover canopy density of the displayed data varies according to the selection - use the legend on the map to change the minimum tree cover canopy density threshold.  Identifies areas of gross tree cover loss