Quantifying Carbon Budgets of Boreal Forests with Remote Sensing Products and a 5$ Per Diem.

The boreal forest is an important component to the global carbon cycle because of its large size and carbon density in the soil, and its non-equilibrium state relative to increased wildfire and climate warming. The BOReal Ecosystem Atmosphere Study (BOREAS) was a career changing experience as I worked alongside John Norman, and and many of his colleagues, and learned many new methods to quantify canopy structure, carbon fluxes from < 1m2 to 103 km2. Carbon assimilation by boreal forests is comprised of an overstory canopy that is relatively open and highly clumped, a modest understory, and often a near-continuous bryophyte layer that has a leaf area and annual carbon uptake capacity similar to the oversory. The contribution of each of these vegetation layers reflectance spectra, used in biogeochemical models to quantify net biome production for the boreal biome, varies seasonally and during succession following disturbance. Boreal black spruce chronosequence study quantified the average net ecosystem production was 0.4 tC/ha/yr. During the past 50 years the large increase in wildfire has changed the boreal forest from a weak carbon sink to a weak carbon source. John Norman not only shaped my research direction but he had a profound impact on how I lived my life – except for living on his suggested per diem rate of 5$/day!