Europe

European ecosystems provide an important managed component of the global carbon cycle. Forests across the continent are largely intensively managed and have historically acted as significant carbon sinks, yet recent observations indicate a weakening of this sink driven by increased harvesting, drought events, bark beetle outbreaks, and reduced growth rates.

Within RECCAP2-CS, Europe is studied using both coarse- and high-resolution satellite observations to quantify annual biomass changes and attribute carbon gains and losses to natural and anthropogenic disturbances. The project also investigates methane emissions from lakes, improving estimates of their variability and separating natural from human-driven contributions to regional greenhouse gas budgets.