Response to Comment on "Tropical forests are a net carbon source based on aboveground measurements of gain and loss"

Nonetheless, properly constructed comparisons designed to reconcile the two datasets yield up to 90% agreement (e.g., in South America). The Comment by Hansen et al. (1) provides the opportunity to distinguish our research, which quantifies dynamics in carbon density, from studies focused on the binary classification of changes in forest area (2). We use a multisensor (ICESat/MODIS), multistage approach combined with field measurements to map net change (i.e., losses and gains) in carbon density for the period 2003–2014 for each 463 m 463 m (21.4 ha) pixel in our dataset. Within each pixel, dynamic processes occurring at both the tree and stand level are necessarily considered in aggregate, meaning that losses and gains are happening always and concurrently wherever woody biomass is present. A loss is registered when losses are greater than gains, and vice versa.