UNIVERSITY OF EXETER (GB)
The THRAC3E project will develop a comprehensive, regionally disaggregated carbon cycle assessment framework for Europe, Africa, and Southeast Asia. The project will integrate novel Earth Observation (EO) data, process-based and data-driven modelling, benchmarking, and low-latency carbon monitoring to address key challenges in understanding how carbon is stored and exchanged across ecosystems and how these processes are shaped by climate variability, land use change, and disturbances such as fire.
Early work will establish the scientific foundation by reviewing current knowledge and identifying gaps in existing systems. New EO datasets will be developed to track vegetation dynamics, biomass change, and carbon fluxes, which are then integrated into a Carbon Benchmarking Dataset (CBD) — a standardised, FAIR data resource covering key component such as biomass, fire emissions, surface fuel loads, and ecosystem fluxes. High-resolution regional carbon budget simulations using Dynamic Global Vegetation Models (DGVMs) with EO-constrained fluxes and emissions will be delivered. A case study in each of the three regionals will be used to support this analysis.
THRAC3E will also build a prototype near-real-time carbon monitoring framework with 3–6-month latency to assess sub-annual carbon anomalies. This will enable biannual carbon budget updates aligned with the Global Carbon Budget timeline.
