Looking at LUCAS
Issue 4, Spring 2008, INFO 350
Available to download as PDF (735 KB)
Welcome to the fourth issue of ‘Looking at LUCAS’, the e-newsletter to keep you informed about progress of the Land Use and Carbon Analysis System (LUCAS) programme. We hope you find the newsletter useful and welcome your ideas, feedback and suggestions to lucas@mfe.govt.nz. For further information about the programme see the LUCAS web page http://www.mfe.govt.nz/issues/climate/lucas/
Re-measurement of LUCAS natural forest plots
The LUCAS programme will begin re-measuring its national plot network for natural forests early next year.
The measurement will be carried out over a five-year period. It will provide statistically sound national estimates of carbon change occurring in New Zealand’s natural forests to enable New Zealand’s international greenhouse gas reporting commitments to be met.
The carbon in New Zealand’s natural forests is accounted for under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol.
Scientists record measurements of vegetation in
beech forest in the Otira River valley, Arthurs Pass.
In 2001, the Ministry for the Environment commissioned the development of a monitoring programme to determine carbon stocks in New Zealand’s natural forests. A permanent plot network was established across the country to measure and monitor natural forest carbon for the Land Use and Carbon Analysis System (LUCAS).
The LUCAS natural forest plot network was previously known as CMS-IF&S (Carbon Monitoring System for Indigenous Forests and Shrublands). Of the 1,372 plots identified, 1,255 were established and measured over a five-year period that began in 2002. The first round of measurements was completed in early 2007.
Carbon stocks in living biomass and woody debris are estimated by collecting data that relate to their volumes and converting these volumes to carbon stocks.
LUCAS takes an all-of-government approach to data collection and includes the compiling of additional biodiversity data to satisfy a wide range of national and international reporting requirements and research needs.
In addition to assessing carbon stocks, the plots established by LUCAS can be used to monitor carbon sequestration (carbon capture) rates and determine whether New Zealand’s natural forests are carbon neutral, a source or a sink.
Carbon Monitoring Senior Adviser, Andrea Brandon, says New Zealand has been monitoring forest ecosystems since the 1940s for a wide variety of reasons. The methods developed for use in this field programme build on earlier permanent plot measurement methodologies.
“It is most satisfying seeing the value of the data-set, not just for carbon monitoring, but for wider environmental reasons as well. For example, the information gathered here can be used to inform State of the Environment reporting and assist the Department of Conservation with its biodiversity monitoring responsibilities,” she says.
Photo Competition
Welcome to the second LUCAS identifying a geographical feature on a satellite map competition. The LUCAS project team introduced the competition in the winter edition of the newsletter to see if readers could identify the part of New Zealand depicted in SPOT 5 satellite imagery.
Those who can guess the location of the satellite image will win Maps of Environment New Zealand 2007 posters.
Last time we showed satellite imagery of the Port of Napier (extra points were given to those who included grid references). There were seven competition winners. They were Robert Gibb, Zach Hill, Tim Park, Wayne Smith, David Herries, Derek Phyn and Phil Wall.
Do you know where this SPOT 5 satellite photo is? The answer will appear in Issue 5 of ‘Looking at LUCAS’. You can get a copy of the SPOT 5 satellite photo by emailing LUCAS (see details below).
One of the post-1989 planted forest plots measured
in the field and also covered by LiDAR and digital
colour aerial photography. The tree species is radiata
pine planted in 1996.
LiDAR and field plot measurements in post-1989 planted forests
In the previous newsletter we provided you with an update on the LiDAR data collection programme for post-1989 planted forests. In July this year that work was completed with a total of 753 plots flown using LiDAR and aerial photography. At the same time as the LiDAR work was being completed the field data collection was also in full swing. This work has now also been completed and analysis of both sets of data is beginning. The results of this analysis will then be used to estimate carbon for the 500 plots that were measured using LiDAR only.
Need More Information?
The New Zealand Land Use and Carbon Analysis System is a programme of work set up to measure and monitor the amount of carbon (carbon stocks) held in New Zealand's forests and soils.
Carbon stock information is required for New Zealand’s reporting requirements under the Kyoto Protocol and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). LUCAS is an important part of the government’s climate change policy package and will help inform New Zealand’s future international climate change negotiations.
If you require more information about the LUCAS programme, the available SPOT 5 imagery, the LUCAS web pages, or the natural and planted forest inventory activities (including the use of airborne LiDAR) please email lucas@mfe.govt.nz
To subscribe or unsubscribe from this newsletter please email lucas@mfe.govt.nz
Published in November 2008 by the Ministry for the Environment, Manatu Mo Te Taiao, PO Box 10362, Wellington, New Zealand
