Above and below ground biomass carbon and soil organic carbon to 1m depth (tonnes/ha)

This dataset represents above- and below-ground terrestrial carbon storage (tonnes (t) of C per hectare (ha)) for circa 2010.

This dataset represents above- and below-ground terrestrial carbon storage (tonnes (t) of C per hectare (ha)) for circa 2010. 


This layer supports analysis but, if needed, a direct download of the data can be accessed here.


The dataset was constructed by combining the most reliable publicly available datasets and overlying them with the ESA CCI landcover map for the year 2010 [ESA, 2017], assigning to each grid cell the corresponding above-ground biomass value from the biomass map that was most appropriate for the grid cell’s landcover type.


Input carbon datasets were identified through a literature review of existing datasets on biomass carbon in terrestrial ecosystems published in peer-reviewed literature. To determine which datasets to combine to produce the global carbon density map, identified datasets were evaluated based on resolution, accuracy, biomass definition and reference date (see table 1 for further information on datasets selected).


Dataset

Scope

Year

Resolution

Definition

Santoro et al. 2018

Global

2010

100 m

Above-ground woody biomass for trees that are >10 cm diameter-at-breast-height, masked to Landsat-derived canopy cover for 2010; biomass is expressed as oven-dry weight of the woody parts (stem, bark, branches and twigs) of all living trees excluding stump and roots.

Xia et al. 2014

Global

1982-2006

8 km

Above-ground grassland biomass.

Bouvet et al. 2018

Africa

2010

25 m

Above-ground woodland and savannah biomass; low woody biomass areas, which therefore exclude dense forests and deserts.

Spawn et al. 2017

Global

2010

300 m

Synthetic, global above- and below-ground biomass maps that combine recently released satellite-based data of standing forest biomass with novel estimates for non-forest biomass stocks.


After aggregating each selected dataset to a nominal scale of 300 m resolution, forest categories in the CCI ESA 2010 landcover dataset were used to extract above-ground biomass from Santoro et al. 2018 for forest areas. Woodland and savanna biomass were then incorporated for Africa from Bouvet et al. 2018., and from Santoro et al. 2018 for areas outside of Africa and outside of forest. Biomass from croplands, sparse vegetation and grassland landcover classes from CCI ESA, in addition to shrubland areas outside Africa missing from Santoro et al. 2018, were extracted from were extracted from Xia et al. 2014. and Spawn et al. 2017 averaged by ecological zone for each landcover type.


Below-ground biomass were added using root-to-shoot ratios from the 2006 IPCC guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (IPCC, 2006). No below-ground values were assigned to croplands as ratios were unavailable. Above- and below-ground biomass were then summed together and multiplied by 0.5 to convert to carbon, generating a single above-and-below-ground biomass carbon layer.

Datasets available for download

Additional Info

Field Value
Last Updated September 23, 2026, 07:33 (UTC)
Created March 24, 2026, 21:06 (UTC)
Domain / Topic
Domain or topic of the dataset being cataloged.
Title
Title for the Dataset.
Above and below ground biomass carbon and soil organic carbon to 1m depth (tonnes/ha)
Description
A description of the dataset.

This dataset represents above- and below-ground terrestrial carbon storage (tonnes (t) of C per hectare (ha)) for circa 2010.

This dataset represents above- and below-ground terrestrial carbon storage (tonnes (t) of C per hectare (ha)) for circa 2010. 


This layer supports analysis but, if needed, a direct download of the data can be accessed here.


The dataset was constructed by combining the most reliable publicly available datasets and overlying them with the ESA CCI landcover map for the year 2010 [ESA, 2017], assigning to each grid cell the corresponding above-ground biomass value from the biomass map that was most appropriate for the grid cell’s landcover type.


Input carbon datasets were identified through a literature review of existing datasets on biomass carbon in terrestrial ecosystems published in peer-reviewed literature. To determine which datasets to combine to produce the global carbon density map, identified datasets were evaluated based on resolution, accuracy, biomass definition and reference date (see table 1 for further information on datasets selected).


Dataset

Scope

Year

Resolution

Definition

Santoro et al. 2018

Global

2010

100 m

Above-ground woody biomass for trees that are >10 cm diameter-at-breast-height, masked to Landsat-derived canopy cover for 2010; biomass is expressed as oven-dry weight of the woody parts (stem, bark, branches and twigs) of all living trees excluding stump and roots.

Xia et al. 2014

Global

1982-2006

8 km

Above-ground grassland biomass.

Bouvet et al. 2018

Africa

2010

25 m

Above-ground woodland and savannah biomass; low woody biomass areas, which therefore exclude dense forests and deserts.

Spawn et al. 2017

Global

2010

300 m

Synthetic, global above- and below-ground biomass maps that combine recently released satellite-based data of standing forest biomass with novel estimates for non-forest biomass stocks.


After aggregating each selected dataset to a nominal scale of 300 m resolution, forest categories in the CCI ESA 2010 landcover dataset were used to extract above-ground biomass from Santoro et al. 2018 for forest areas. Woodland and savanna biomass were then incorporated for Africa from Bouvet et al. 2018., and from Santoro et al. 2018 for areas outside of Africa and outside of forest. Biomass from croplands, sparse vegetation and grassland landcover classes from CCI ESA, in addition to shrubland areas outside Africa missing from Santoro et al. 2018, were extracted from were extracted from Xia et al. 2014. and Spawn et al. 2017 averaged by ecological zone for each landcover type.


Below-ground biomass were added using root-to-shoot ratios from the 2006 IPCC guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (IPCC, 2006). No below-ground values were assigned to croplands as ratios were unavailable. Above- and below-ground biomass were then summed together and multiplied by 0.5 to convert to carbon, generating a single above-and-below-ground biomass carbon layer.
Tags / Keywords
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Format (CSV, XLS, TXT, PDF, etc)
File format of the dataset.
Dataset Size
Dataset size in megabytes.
0.14
Metadata Identifier
Metadata identifier – can be used as the unique identifier for catalogue entry
2444626e38a04573b3a52904f2a050d9
Published Date
Published date of the dataset.
2021-05-04
Time Period Data Span (start date)
Start date of the data in the dataset.
Time Period Data Span (end date)
End date of time data in the dataset.
GeoSpatial Area Data Span
A spatial region or named place the dataset covers.
Field Value
Access category
Type of access granted for the dataset (open, closed, service, etc).
public
License
License used to access the dataset.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License .
Limits on use
Limits on use of data.
Location
Location of the dataset.
https://climate.esri.ca/datasets/UNEP-WCMC::above-and-below-ground-biomass-carbon-and-soil-organic-carbon-to-1m-depth-tonnes-ha
Data Service
Data service for accessing a dataset.
Owner
Owner of the dataset.
UNEP-WCMC-Publisher
Contact Point
Who to contact regarding access?
UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre
Contact Point Email
The email to contact regarding access?
[email protected]
Publisher
Publisher of the dataset.
UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre
Publisher Email
Email of the publisher.
Author
Author of the dataset.
UNEP-WCMC-Publisher
Author Email
Email of the author.
Accessed At
Date the data and metadata was accessed.
2021-12-08
Field Value
Identifier
Unique identifier for the dataset.
e04ea4f7ecbb4e7fb0325dfa24af6969
Language
Language(s) of the dataset
English
Link to dataset description
A URL to an external document describing the dataset.
https://climate.esri.ca/datasets/UNEP-WCMC::above-and-below-ground-biomass-carbon-and-soil-organic-carbon-to-1m-depth-tonnes-ha
Persistent Identifier
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Globally Unique Identifier
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Contains data about individuals
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Contains data about identifiable individuals
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Contains Indigenous Data
Does the data hold data about Indigenous communities?
Portal Type
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Field Value
Version
Version of the datatset
None
Source
Source of the dataset.
None
Version notes
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Is version of another dataset
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Other versions
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Provenance Text
Provenance Text of the data.
UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre
Provenance URL
Provenance URL of the data.
Temporal resolution
Describes how granular the date/time data in the dataset is.
GeoSpatial resolution in meters
Describes how granular (in meters) geospatial data is in the dataset.
GeoSpatial resolution (in regions)
Describes how granular (in regions) geospatial data is in the dataset.
Field Value
Indigenous Community Permission
Who holds the Indigenous Community Permission. Who to contact regarding access to a dataset that has data about Indigenous communities.
Community Permission
Community permission (who gave permission).
The Indigenous communities the dataset is about
Indigenous communities from which data is derived.
Field Value
Number of data rows
If tabular dataset, total number of rows.
4
Number of data columns
If tabular dataset, total number of unique columns.
16
Number of data cells
If tabular dataset, total number of cells with data.
64
Number of data relations
If RDF dataset, total number of triples.
Number of entities
If RDF dataset, total number of entities.
Number of data properties
If RDF dataset, total number of unique properties used by the triples.
Data quality
Describes the quality of the data in the dataset.
Metric for data quality
A metric used to measure the quality of the data, such as missing values or invalid formats.

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