Blue Carbon model inputs

[borochi]

Hi InVESTies!!! I have a question regarding the Coastal Blue Carbon module. In the input biophysical table, there are columns for ‘Biomass-initial’ and ‘Soil-initial’. I want to clarify whether these values should be in C or CO2e?

I’m asking because in the Carbon module, there’s a NOTE that explicitly states: ‘All carbon data should be for elemental carbon, not CO2’.

Could someone confirm if this same rule applies to the Coastal Blue Carbon module, specifically for the ‘Biomass-initial’ and ‘Soil-initial’ columns? Thank you for your help in ensuring I’m using the correct units for my analysis.
Carlos

[swolny]

Hi @borochi -

The User Guide notes this in the How it Works section:

Although this user’s guide chapter refers to units in Megatonnes of CO2-equivalent per hectare, the model does no conversion of units whatsoever, and so any units representing the habitat-specific rate of accumulation or emissions, so long as they are consistent across all model inputs, may be used.

~ Stacie