Data for: How Much More Carbon Can Be Realistically Captured from Grassland Vegetation? Quantitative Assessment Using Focal Analysis on Soil-Topography-Vegetation Unit in the Inner Mongolia

Tiles from MODIS 17A3 were mosaicked and taken to represent actual NPP (ANPP) of the grassland vegetation. A differential analysis between PNPP and ANPP at pixel level, was presented to represent a theoretical potential space in carbon capture. The maps of soil (S), topography (T), and vegetation (V) were overlaid to segment the area into spatially homogeneous S-T-V patches.

Three types of focal statistics, including mean (Mean), maximum (Max), and 95% percentile threshold (95%PCT), of ANPP for each S-T-V unit were computed as the target level for ANPP. The gap from ANPP to each target level for each S-T-V patch was computed as being the practically realistic potential space. The gaps for the entire IMAR area were aggregated.

The temporally averaged maps of the gaps derived from the pixel-based and focal analysis approaches along with ANPP and PNPP were provided. The temporal trajectories of spatially averaged gaps as well as ANPP and PNPP were illustrated.