Soils and the Carbon Cycle

• Main Authors: Harden, Jennifer W., Sanderman, Jonathan, Hugelius, Gustaf
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2017
• Subjects: Arctic; Global warming; permafrost
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9781118786352.wbieg0722; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2F9781118786352.wbieg0722; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/9781118786352.wbieg0722

Soils currently store more than twice as much carbon as our current atmosphere and can sequester or release carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) through their capacity to store organic matter. This CO 2 exchange provides a service to the atmosphere through the regulation of CO 2 levels and their warming potential and to our ecosystems through the regulation of organic matter and its water and nutrient storage. Carbon stored in the soils of northern regions represents about half of this global soil organic carbon. Thus, with recent warming and thawing of arctic soils, many assessments are targeted to study permafrost soils and how thawing will impact atmospheric carbon budgets and global warming. Meanwhile, deliberate land management strategies in temperate and tropical regions could potentially sequester large amounts of CO 2 in soils, helping to mediate future warming. Understanding the science behind the soil processing, mapping, and land management of soil carbon is therefore an emergent priority for earth sciences.