The impacts of fires and clear-cuts on the carbon balance of Russian forests

The system for the regional assessment of a forest carbon budget is expanded with the procedures of uncertainty calculations. The forest carbon balance of the Russian Federation for 1988–2009 is assessed. The impact of fire on the forest carbon budget is estimated using both official statistics and remote sensing data. For the study period, the average carbon sink from the atmosphere to Russian forests was 205 ± 64 × 106 t C yr−1 on average, varying from 70 ± 81 × 106 t C yr−1 in 1998 to 287 ± 60 × 106 t C yr−1 in 2001. The interannual variations of carbon sink are determined by the dynamics of carbon losses due to forest fires. The distribution of the fireinduced carbon losses in Russian regions is examined using remote-sensing data.