Carbon Sequestration at United States Marine Corps Installations West

: This project was designed to assist Marine Corps Installations West (MCIWest) in developing a strategy to reduce its overall carbon footprint, especially greenhouse gas emissions. The project assessed the carbon footprint at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center (MCAGCC) in part to examine potential sources and sinks for carbon to better understand the potential for natural processes to offset anthropogenic emissions. Previous studies have shown that desert ecosystems might be significant sinks for carbon dioxide (CO2). We undertook a multifaceted approach of MCAGCC to determine landcover (composition and cover). We determined that MCAGCC had relatively few cover types and that a site could be chosen that was representative of the entire installation. An eddy covariance tower (ET) was located in one relatively homogeneous area in order to assist researchers to determine the net carbon flux of the representative site. Project results indicated that in spite of a low precipitation year, the land surface of the MCAGCC sequestered a significant amount of CO2. Results further indicate that arid shrublands similar to those found at the MCAGCC may play a significant role in modulating anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions.