InVEST Carbon Model - Data Aggregation

[maddyhighfield]

Hi All!

I am currently in the process of gathering carbon storage data for each land cover class. So far, I have found data for the carbon density of soil and vegetation (aboveground and belowground biomass combined). However, I cannot find any data for the carbon density of dead matter and individual values for aboveground and belowground biomass.

The InVEST documentation states: “The InVEST Carbon Storage and Sequestration model aggregates the amount of carbon stored in these pools according to land use maps and classifications provided by the user.” In this context, what does aggregate mean? Does the model calculate the sum of the four carbon pools, or is it more complex than that? If the model simply sums the values, then I guess it does not matter whether I assign the values for the carbon density of vegetation to the aboveground or belowground biomass field.

Any help would be much appreciated!

Thanks

Maddy

[swolny]

Hi @maddyhighfield , and welcome!

You’re exactly right that all the model does is calculate the sum of the four carbon pools, so it does not matter which column you assign the combined above/belowground biomass to. And if you don’t have data for one of the pools (like dead matter, which is common to have no data for), you can just enter a 0.

~ Stacie