Land Cover Disturbances and Feedbacks to the Climate System in Canada and Alaska

Abstract

Canada and Alaska occupy an area of 11.1 million km2, almost 10% of the vegetated cover of the Earth's surface. In the Western Hemisphere North of 50o N, terrestrial interactions with the climate system are dominated by the land mass of Canada and Alaska. The forests of this region, which occupy an area of approximately 4 million km2 (~10% of global forest area), represent a wood resource of global economic significance with Canada responsible for approximately 11% of global industrial roundwood production in the 1990s (Perez-Garcia, 2002). Land cover in Canada and Alaska has been undergoing substantial changes in recent decades (Kurz and Apps, 1999; Stocks et al., 2000; Sturm et al., 2001; Silapaswan et al., 2001; Podur et al., 2002; Lloyd et al., 2003a).