Boreal

Composite number

Ecosystem

Biomass (ecology)

Geology

Climate change

Carbon fibers

Sink (geography)

Carbon sink

Composite material

Ecology

Materials science

Geography

Carbon sequestration

Primary production

Carbon stock

Environmental science

Tropics

Carbon dioxide

Cartography

Terrestrial ecosystem

Carbon cycle

Temperate climate

Biology

Atmospheric sciences

Temperate rainforest

Science Advances

Live woody vegetation is the largest reservoir of biomass carbon, with its restoration considered one of the most effective natural climate solutions. However, terrestrial carbon fluxes remain the largest uncertainty in the global carbon cycle. Here, we develop spatially explicit estimates of carbon stock changes of live woody biomass from 2000 to 2019 using measurements from ground, air, and space. We show that live biomass has removed 4.9 to 5.5 PgC year −1 from the atmosphere, offsetting 4.6 ± 0.1 PgC year −1 of gross emissions from disturbances and adding substantially (0.23 to 0.88 PgC year −1 ) to the global carbon stocks. Gross emissions and removals in the tropics were four times larger than temperate and boreal ecosystems combined. Although live biomass is responsible for more than 80% of gross terrestrial fluxes, soil, dead organic matter, and lateral transport may play important roles in terrestrial carbon sink.

Changes in global terrestrial live biomass over the 21st century