Natural disturbances increasingly affect Europe's most mature and carbon-rich forests.

Data repository: Natural disturbances increasingly affect Europe's most mature and carbon-rich forests.

This repository contains the processed datasets underlying the analyses and figures presented in the manuscript.  
“Natural disturbances increasingly affect Europe’s most mature and carbon-rich forests”.

The data quantify recent forest disturbance dynamics across Europe and their association with forest age, aboveground biomass, structural heterogeneity, and tree genus composition. All files are provided in open formats and are intended to support transparency, reproducibility, and reuse of the published results.

File overview

Spatial reference and filtering

- bounding_box_filter_years_4326.gpkg
  Geographic layer defining the spatial extent of disturbed forest areas used for filtering analyses. This file delineates the locations and temporal bounds of disturbance events retained in the study and is used to spatially constrain subsequent aggregations and projections.

- ne_10m_admin_0_countries.zip
  Global country boundaries (Natural Earth, 1:10m resolution) were used for spatial reference and visualisation of results at continental and regional scales.

Disturbance and biomass data

- disturbance_data_combined_v2025-11-1.parquet
  Core processed dataset combining annual forest disturbance information with forest age, aboveground biomass, and genus composition. This table forms the basis for analyses of structural selectivity across age classes, biomass levels, and forest types.

- hex_genus_fractions.parquet
  Hexagon-level dataset describing the fractional composition of dominant tree genera within each spatial unit. Used to attribute disturbance impacts and biomass exposure to genus groups (e.g. spruce, other needleleaf, broadleaf).

Biomass loss and exposure metrics

- hex_delta_biomass_v11.gpkg
  Spatial dataset (hexagonal grid) quantifying changes in aboveground biomass associated with disturbance events. Used for mapping spatial patterns of biomass loss and exposure.

- hex_forecast_loss_by_disturbance_period.parquet
  Projected biomass loss metrics aggregated by hexagon and disturbance period, based on trend-based disturbance scenarios. Used in spatial projections of future carbon exposure.

- cumulative_biomass_loss_flux_v11_full.parquet
  Detailed time series of cumulative biomass loss associated with natural disturbances and harvests, expressed at annual resolution and used for projection analyses.

- cumulative_biomass_loss_flux_v11_summary.csv 
  Summary table of cumulative biomass loss metrics aggregated over analysis periods and disturbance types. Used to generate summary statistics and figures.

- cumulative_biomass_loss_forecast_by_genus.csv
  Genus-specific projections of cumulative biomass loss under future disturbance scenarios. Used to assess the differential exposure of forest types.

Projection outputs

- forecast_results_1985_2040_v11.csv
  Trend-based projection results spanning 1985-2040, including disturbance area trajectories and associated biomass exposure metrics. Used in forward-looking analyses of disturbance-driven carbon vulnerability.

Notes

- All datasets in this repository are **processed outputs** derived from publicly available source data (see manuscript for full data sources and methods).
- The data underlying individual figures are directly derived from the files provided here.
- Units, variable definitions, and processing steps are described in the Methods section of the manuscript.

For questions related to the data, please contact the corresponding author.