Hurricane impacts on US forest carbon sequestration

Recent focus has been given to US forests RS I sink for incrcascs in atmospheric carbon dioxide. Current estimates of US Eorest carbon sequestration average approximately 20 Tg (i.e. IO” g) year. However, predictions of forest carbon sequestration ofien do not include the influcncc of hurricanes on forest carbon storage. Intense hurricanes occur two out of three years across the eastern US. A single storm can convert the cquivalcnt of 10% d the total mnual carbon sequestrated by US forests into dead and downed biomass. Given that forests rcquirc at Icast I5 years to recover l‘rom a sevcrc storm, a large mmu~~t of forest carbon is lost either directly (through biomass destruction) or indirectly (through lost carbon sequestration capacity) due to hurricanes. Only 15% of the total carbon in destroyed timber is salvaged following a major hurricane. The remainder of the carbon is left to dccomposc and eventually return to the atmosphere. Short-term increases in forest productivity due to increased nutrient inputs from detritus arc not J’~dly compensated by reduced slem stocking, and the recovery time nccdcd to recover leaf area. Thercforc, hurricanes arc 21 significant f’actor in reducing short-term carbon storage in US Ihrests. (‘ 2001 I’ublishcd by Elsevier Scicncc Ltd. All rights