Articles | Volume 18, issue 9
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-6485-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-6485-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
C-PEAT's Global Peatland Carbon Database (v.2025)
Dept. of Geography, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA
Dept. of Geography, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA
Angela Gallego-Sala
Dept. of Geography, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK
Daniela Ransby
PANGAEA, Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, Germany
Emily Rabel
Dept. of Geography, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA
Cornelia Behrens
PANGAEA, MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen, Germany
Stefanie Schumacher
PANGAEA, Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, Germany
Kathe Todd-Brown
Dept. of Environmental Engineering Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
Vaasuki Marupaka
Dept. of Environmental Engineering Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
A full list of authors appears at the end of the paper.
Related authors
Hannah Mitchell, Julie Loisel, Jacklyn Rivera Wong, Alessandra C. Leri, and Mia Allison
Biogeosciences, 23, 5653–5683, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-5653-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-5653-2026, 2026
Short summary
Short summary
The peatlands of Central America are vastly understudied, despite their role as long-term carbon stores. This study presents 9 new peat-core datasets from different landscapes found across Costa Rica. Our approach includes multiple paleoenvironmental tools that provide peatland ages, peat-soil geochemical characteristics, and ecological succession histories. The total peat carbon store in Costa Rica is estimated at 0.15 gigatonnes and the averaged peatland carbon stock is 1080 Mg C/ha.
Hannah Mitchell, Julie Loisel, Jacklyn Rivera Wong, Alessandra C. Leri, and Mia Allison
Biogeosciences, 23, 5653–5683, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-5653-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-5653-2026, 2026
Short summary
Short summary
The peatlands of Central America are vastly understudied, despite their role as long-term carbon stores. This study presents 9 new peat-core datasets from different landscapes found across Costa Rica. Our approach includes multiple paleoenvironmental tools that provide peatland ages, peat-soil geochemical characteristics, and ecological succession histories. The total peat carbon store in Costa Rica is estimated at 0.15 gigatonnes and the averaged peatland carbon stock is 1080 Mg C/ha.
Mike Vreeken, Megan N. Jenkins, Siwei Mai, Rebecca H. Peel, Yiming Zhang, Toby A. Halamka, Amelia Oakeshott, Simon M. K. Cheung, Panteleimon Prokopiou, Sam Rangdale, Jerome Blewett, D. Paola Alarcon Prado, Juan C. Benavides, Frank Kansiime, Ellen Kayendeke, Carol Kagaba Kairumba, B. David A. Naafs, Casey Bryce, Angela V. Gallego-Sala, and Richard D. Pancost
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-3069, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-3069, 2026
Short summary
Short summary
The stability of carbon stored in tropical peat systems is linked to molecular composition of peat. We studied the molecular composition of peatland plants, litter, and peat at several depths using seven representative tropical peatlands, and two temperate peatlands as comparison. Most sites show that deeper peat have relatively more harder-to-degrade molecules, such as lignin, against easy-to-degrade molecules. But a fingerprint of the original plant material persists regardless of degradation.
Katja Frieler, Stefan Lange, Jacob Schewe, Matthias Mengel, Simon Treu, Christian Otto, Jan Volkholz, Christopher P. O. Reyer, Stefanie Heinicke, Colin Jones, Julia L. Blanchard, Cheryl S. Harrison, Colleen M. Petrik, Tyler D. Eddy, Kelly Ortega-Cisneros, Camilla Novaglio, Ryan Heneghan, Derek P. Tittensor, Olivier Maury, Matthias Büchner, Thomas Vogt, Dánnell Quesada-Chacón, Kerry Emanuel, Chia-Ying Lee, Suzana J. Camargo, Linn Hamester, Jonas Jägermeyr, Sam Rabin, Jochen Klar, Iliusi D. Vega del Valle, Lisa Novak, Inga J. Sauer, Gitta Lasslop, Sarah Chadburn, Eleanor Burke, Angela Gallego-Sala, Noah Smith, Jinfeng Chang, Stijn Hantson, Chantelle Burton, Anne Gädeke, Fang Li, Simon N. Gosling, Hannes Müller Schmied, Fred Hattermann, Thomas Hickler, Rafael Marcé, Don Pierson, Wim Thiery, Daniel Mercado-Bettín, Robert Ladwig, Ana Isabel Ayala, Matthew Forrest, Michel Bechtold, Robert Reinecke, Inge de Graaf, Jed O. Kaplan, Alexander Koch, Matthieu Lengaigne, Rohini Kumar, and Maryna Strokal
Geosci. Model Dev., 19, 4095–4135, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-19-4095-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-19-4095-2026, 2026
Short summary
Short summary
This paper describes the experiments and data sets necessary to run historic and future impact projections, and the underlying assumptions of future climate change as defined by the 3rd round of the ISIMIP Project (Inter-sectoral Impactmodel Intercomparison Project, isimip.org). ISIMIP provides a framework for cross-sectorally consistent climate impact simulations to contribute to a comprehensive and consistent picture of the world under different climate-change scenarios.
Jade Skye, Joe R. Melton, Colin Goldblatt, Angela Gallego-Sala, Michelle Garneau, and Scott Winton
Biogeosciences, 23, 2959–2983, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-2959-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-2959-2026, 2026
Short summary
Short summary
We developed PeatDepth-ML, a machine learning model predicting peat depth worldwide to help estimate carbon stocks in these climate-critical ecosystems. Our model predicts median depths of 134 cm in peatlands. Using bootstrapping, we rigorously assessed how sampling bias affects predictions. This revealed predictor selection and regional accuracy can vary greatly with different data subsets, demonstrating model reliability fundamentally depends on training data quality and geographic coverage.
Jade Skye, Joe R. Melton, Colin Goldblatt, Louis Saumier, Angela Gallego-Sala, Michelle Garneau, R. Scott Winton, Erick B. Bahati, Juan C. Benavides, Lee Fedorchuk, Gérard Imani, Carol Kagaba Kairumba, Frank Kansiime, Mariusz Lamentowicz, Michel Mbasi, Daria Wochal, Sambor Czerwiński, Jacek Landowski, Joanna Landowska, Vincent Maire, Minna M. Väliranta, Matthew Warren, Lydia E. S. Cole, Marissa A. Davies, Erik A. Lilleskov, Jingjing Sun, and Yuwan Wang
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 7313–7330, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-7313-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-7313-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Peatlands are large stores of carbon but are vulnerable to human activities and climate change. Comprehensive peatland data are vital to understand these ecosystems, but existing datasets are fragmented and contain errors. To address this, we created Peat-DBase – a standardized global database of peat depth measurements with > 200 000 measurements worldwide, showing median depths of 130 cm. Peat-DBase avoids overlapping data compilation efforts while identifying critical observational gaps.
Katja Frieler, Jan Volkholz, Stefan Lange, Jacob Schewe, Matthias Mengel, María del Rocío Rivas López, Christian Otto, Christopher P. O. Reyer, Dirk Nikolaus Karger, Johanna T. Malle, Simon Treu, Christoph Menz, Julia L. Blanchard, Cheryl S. Harrison, Colleen M. Petrik, Tyler D. Eddy, Kelly Ortega-Cisneros, Camilla Novaglio, Yannick Rousseau, Reg A. Watson, Charles Stock, Xiao Liu, Ryan Heneghan, Derek Tittensor, Olivier Maury, Matthias Büchner, Thomas Vogt, Tingting Wang, Fubao Sun, Inga J. Sauer, Johannes Koch, Inne Vanderkelen, Jonas Jägermeyr, Christoph Müller, Sam Rabin, Jochen Klar, Iliusi D. Vega del Valle, Gitta Lasslop, Sarah Chadburn, Eleanor Burke, Angela Gallego-Sala, Noah Smith, Jinfeng Chang, Stijn Hantson, Chantelle Burton, Anne Gädeke, Fang Li, Simon N. Gosling, Hannes Müller Schmied, Fred Hattermann, Jida Wang, Fangfang Yao, Thomas Hickler, Rafael Marcé, Don Pierson, Wim Thiery, Daniel Mercado-Bettín, Robert Ladwig, Ana Isabel Ayala-Zamora, Matthew Forrest, and Michel Bechtold
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 1–51, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-1-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-1-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Our paper provides an overview of all observational climate-related and socioeconomic forcing data used as input for the impact model evaluation and impact attribution experiments within the third round of the Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project. The experiments are designed to test our understanding of observed changes in natural and human systems and to quantify to what degree these changes have already been induced by climate change.
J. Robert Logan, Kathe E. Todd-Brown, Kathryn M. Jacobson, Peter J. Jacobson, Roland Vogt, and Sarah E. Evans
Biogeosciences, 19, 4129–4146, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-4129-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-4129-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Understanding how plants decompose is important for understanding where the atmospheric CO2 they absorb ends up after they die. In forests, decomposition is controlled by rain but not in deserts. We performed a 2.5-year study in one of the driest places on earth (the Namib desert in southern Africa) and found that fog and dew, not rainfall, closely controlled how quickly plants decompose. We also created a model to help predict decomposition in drylands with lots of fog and/or dew.
Katherine E. O. Todd-Brown, Rose Z. Abramoff, Jeffrey Beem-Miller, Hava K. Blair, Stevan Earl, Kristen J. Frederick, Daniel R. Fuka, Mario Guevara Santamaria, Jennifer W. Harden, Katherine Heckman, Lillian J. Heran, James R. Holmquist, Alison M. Hoyt, David H. Klinges, David S. LeBauer, Avni Malhotra, Shelby C. McClelland, Lucas E. Nave, Katherine S. Rocci, Sean M. Schaeffer, Shane Stoner, Natasja van Gestel, Sophie F. von Fromm, and Marisa L. Younger
Biogeosciences, 19, 3505–3522, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-3505-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-3505-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Research data are becoming increasingly available online with tantalizing possibilities for reanalysis. However harmonizing data from different sources remains challenging. Using the soils community as an example, we walked through the various strategies that researchers currently use to integrate datasets for reanalysis. We find that manual data transcription is still extremely common and that there is a critical need for community-supported informatics tools like vocabularies and ontologies.
Sarah E. Chadburn, Eleanor J. Burke, Angela V. Gallego-Sala, Noah D. Smith, M. Syndonia Bret-Harte, Dan J. Charman, Julia Drewer, Colin W. Edgar, Eugenie S. Euskirchen, Krzysztof Fortuniak, Yao Gao, Mahdi Nakhavali, Włodzimierz Pawlak, Edward A. G. Schuur, and Sebastian Westermann
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 1633–1657, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-1633-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-1633-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We present a new method to include peatlands in an Earth system model (ESM). Peatlands store huge amounts of carbon that accumulates very slowly but that can be rapidly destabilised, emitting greenhouse gases. Our model captures the dynamic nature of peat by simulating the change in surface height and physical properties of the soil as carbon is added or decomposed. Thus, we model, for the first time in an ESM, peat dynamics and its threshold behaviours that can lead to destabilisation.
Cited articles
Adams, J.: The rise of research networks, Nature, 490, 335–336, 2012.
Alexandrov, G. A., Brovkin, V. A., Kleinen, T., and Yu, Z.: The capacity of northern peatlands for long-term carbon sequestration, Biogeosciences, 17, 47–54, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-47-2020, 2020.
Armentano, T. V. and Menges, E. S.: Patterns of change in the carbon balance of organic soil-wetlands of the temperate zone, J. Ecol., 74, 755–774, 1986.
Baron, J. S., Specht, A., Garnier, E., Bishop, P., Campbell, C. A., Davis, F. W., Fady, B., Field, D., Gross, L. J., Guru, S. M., and Halpern, B. S.: Synthesis centers as critical research infrastructure, BioScience, 67, 750–759, https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/bix053, 2017.
Beck, H. E., McVicar, T. R., Vergopolan, N., Berg, A., Lutsko, N. J., Dufour, A., Zeng, Z., Jiang, X., van Dijk, A. I., and Miralles, D. G.: High-resolution (1 km) Köppen-Geiger maps for 1901–2099 based on constrained CMIP6 projections, Sci. Data, 10, 724, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-023-02549-6, 2023.
Bond-Lamberty, B., Smith, A. P., and Bailey, V.: Running an open experiment: transparency and reproducibility in soil and ecosystem science, Environ. Res. Lett., 11, 084004, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/11/8/084004, 2016.
Carpenter, S. R., Armbrust, E. V., Arzberger, P. W., Chapin III, F. S., Elser, J. J., Hackett, E. J., Ives, A. R., Kareiva, P. M., Leibold, M. A., Lundberg, P., and Mangel, M.: Accelerate synthesis in ecology and environmental sciences, BioScience, 59, 699–701, 2009.
Chadburn, S. E., Burke, E. J., Gallego-Sala, A. V., Smith, N. D., Bret-Harte, M. S., Charman, D. J., Drewer, J., Edgar, C. W., Euskirchen, E. S., Fortuniak, K., Gao, Y., Nakhavali, M., Pawlak, W., Schuur, E. A. G., and Westermann, S.: A new approach to simulate peat accumulation, degradation and stability in a global land surface scheme (JULES vn5.8_accumulate_soil) for northern and temperate peatlands, Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 1633–1657, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-1633-2022, 2022.
Chamberlain, S., Woo, K., MacDonald, A., Zimmerman, N., and Simpson, G.: pangaear: Client for the “Pangaea” Database, R package version 1.1.0, https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=pangaear (last access: 17 August 2026), 2021.
Charman, D. J., Beilman, D. W., Blaauw, M., Booth, R. K., Brewer, S., Chambers, F. M., Christen, J. A., Gallego-Sala, A., Harrison, S. P., Hughes, P. D. M., Jackson, S. T., Korhola, A., Mauquoy, D., Mitchell, F. J. G., Prentice, I. C., van der Linden, M., De Vleeschouwer, F., Yu, Z. C., Alm, J., Bauer, I. E., Corish, Y. M. C., Garneau, M., Hohl, V., Huang, Y., Karofeld, E., Le Roux, G., Loisel, J., Moschen, R., Nichols, J. E., Nieminen, T. M., MacDonald, G. M., Phadtare, N. R., Rausch, N., Sillasoo, Ü., Swindles, G. T., Tuittila, E.-S., Ukonmaanaho, L., Väliranta, M., van Bellen, S., van Geel, B., Vitt, D. H., and Zhao, Y.: Climate-related changes in peatland carbon accumulation during the last millennium, Biogeosciences, 10, 929–944, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-10-929-2013, 2013.
Chaudhary, N., Westermann, S., Lamba, S., Shurpali, N., Sannel, A. B., Schurgers, G., Miller, P. A., and Smith, B.: Modelling past and future peatland carbon dynamics across the pan‐Arctic, Glob. Change Biol., 26, 4119–4133, https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15099, 2020.
Clymo, R. S., Turunen, J., and Tolonen, K.: Carbon accumulation in peatlands, Oikos, 368–388, 1998.
Cobb, A. R., Hoyt, A. M., Gandois, L., Eri, J., Dommain, R., Abu Salim, K., Kai, F. M., Haji Su'ut, N. S., and Harvey, C. F.: How temporal patterns in rainfall determine the geomorphology and carbon fluxes of tropical peatlands, P. Natl. Acad. Sci., 114, E5187-96, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1701090114, 2017.
Dicks, L. V., Hodge, I., Randall, N. P., Scharlemann, J. P., Siriwardena, G. M., Smith, H. G., Smith, R. K., and Sutherland, W. J.: A transparent process for “evidence‐informed” policy making, Conserv. Lett., 7, 119–125, https://doi.org/10.1111/conl.12046, 2014.
Dietze, M. C., Serbin, S. P., Davidson, C., Desai, A. R., Feng, X., Kelly, R., Kooper, R., LeBauer, D., Mantooth, J., McHenry, K., and Wang, D.: A quantitative assessment of a terrestrial biosphere model's data needs across North American biomes, J. Geophys. Res.-Biogeo., 119, 286–300, https://doi.org/10.1002/2013JG002392, 2014.
Dommain, R., Couwenberg, J., and Joosten, H.: Development and carbon sequestration of tropical peat domes in south-east Asia: links to post-glacial sea-level changes and Holocene climate variability, Quaternary Sci. Rev., 30, 999–1010, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2011.01.018, 2011.
Ellison, A. M.: Repeatability and transparency in ecological research, Ecology, 91, 2536–2539, 2010.
Felden, J., Möller, L., Schindler, U., Huber, R., Schumacher, S., Koppe, R., Diepenbroek, M., and Glöckner, F. O.: PANGAEA-Data publisher for earth & environmental science, Sci. Data, 10, 347, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-023-02269-x, 2023.
Fick, S. E. and Hijmans, R. J.: WorldClim 2: new 1km spatial resolution climate surfaces for global land areas, Int. J. Climatol., 37, 4302–4315, https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.5086, 2017.
Frolking, S., Roulet, N., and Fuglestvedt, J.: How northern peatlands influence the Earth's radiative budget: Sustained methane emission versus sustained carbon sequestration, J. Geophys. Res.-Biogeo., 111, https://doi.org/10.1029/2005JG000091, 2006.
Frolking, S., Talbot, J., and Subin, Z. M.: Exploring the relationship between peatland net carbon balance and apparent carbon accumulation rate at century to millennial time scales, Holocene, 24, 1167–1173, https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683614538078, 2014.
Gallego-Sala, A. V., Charman, D. J., Brewer, S., Page, S. E., Prentice, I. C., Friedlingstein, P., Moreton, S., Amesbury, M. J., Beilman, D. W., Björck, S., Blyakharchuk, T., Bochicchio, C., Booth, R. K., Bunbury, J., Camill, P., Carless, D., Chimner, R. A., Clifford, M., Cressey, E., Courtney-Mustaphi, C., De Vleeschouwer, F., de Jong, R., Fialkiewicz-Koziel, B., Finkelstein, S. A., Garneau, M., Githumbi, E., Hribjlan, J., Holmquist, J., Hughes, P. D. M., Jones, C., Jones, M. C., Karofeld, E., Klein, E. S., Kokfelt, U., Korhola, A., Lacourse, T., Le Roux, G., Lamentowicz, M., Large, D., Lavoie, M., Loisel, J., Mackay, H., MacDonald, G. M., Makila, M., Magnan, G., Marchant, R., Marcisz, K., Martínez Cortizas, A., Massa, C., Mathijssen, P., Mauquoy, D., Mighall, T., Mitchell, F. J. G., Moss, P., Nichols, J., Oksanen, P. O., Orme, L., Packalen, M. S., Robinson, S., Roland, T. P., Sanderson, N. K., Sannel, A. B. K., Silva-Sánchez, N., Steinberg, N., Swindles, G. T., Turner, T. E., Uglow, J., Väliranta, M., van Bellen, S., van der Linden, M., van Geel, B., Wang, G., Yu, Z., Zaragoza-Castells J., and Zhao, Y.: Latitudinal limits to the predicted increase of the peatland carbon sink with warming, Nat. Clim. Change, 8, 907–913, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-018-0271-1, 2018.
Gibson, C. M., Chasmer, L. E., Thompson, D. K., Quinton, W. L., Flannigan, M. D., and Olefeldt, D.: Wildfire as a major driver of recent permafrost thaw in boreal peatlands, Nat. Commun., 9, 3041, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-05457-1, 2018.
Gorham, E.: Northern peatlands: role in the carbon cycle and probable responses to climatic warming, Ecol. Appl., 1, 182–195, 1991.
Gorham, E., Janssens, J. A., and Glaser, P. H.: Rates of peat accumulation during the postglacial period in 32 sites from Alaska to Newfoundland, with special emphasis on northern Minnesota, Can. J. Bot., 81, 429–438, 2003.
Gorham, E., Lehman, C., Dyke, A., Janssens, J., and Dyke, L.: Temporal and spatial aspects of peatland initiation following deglaciation in North America, Quaternary Sci. Rev., 26, 300–311, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2006.08.008, 2007.
Gorham, E., Lehman, C., Dyke, A., Clymo, D., and Janssens, J.: Long-term carbon sequestration in North American peatlands, Quaternary Sci. Rev., 58, 77–82, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2012.09.018, 2012.
Grand, A., Wilkinson, C., Bultitude, K., and Winfield, A. F.: Open science: a new “trust technology”?, Sci. Commun., 34, 679–689, https://doi.org/10.1177/1075547012443021, 2012.
Hampton, S. E. and Parker, J. N.: Collaboration and productivity in scientific synthesis, BioScience, 61, 900–910, https://doi.org/10.1525/bio.2011.61.11.9, 2011.
Harden, J. W., Hugelius, G., Ahlström, A., Blankinship, J. C., Bond‐Lamberty, B., Lawrence, C. R., Loisel, J., Malhotra, A., Jackson, R. B., Ogle, S., and Phillips, C.: Networking our science to characterize the state, vulnerabilities, and management opportunities of soil organic matter, Glob. Change Biol., 24, e705-18, https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.13896, 2017.
Hooijer, A., Page, S., Jauhiainen, J., Lee, W. A., Lu, X. X., Idris, A., and Anshari, G.: Subsidence and carbon loss in drained tropical peatlands, Biogeosciences, 9, 1053–1071, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-9-1053-2012, 2012.
Hoyt, A. M., Gandois, L., Eri, J., Kai, F. M., Harvey, C. F., and Cobb, A. R.: CO2 emissions from an undrained tropical peatland: Interacting influences of temperature, shading and water table depth, Glob. Change Biol., 25, 2885–2899, https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14702, 2019.
Hoyt, A. M., Chaussard, E., Seppalainen, S. S., and Harvey, C. F.: Widespread subsidence and carbon emissions across Southeast Asian peatlands, Nat. Geosci., 13, 435–440, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-020-0575-4, 2020.
Huber, R., Röttenbacher, J., Selke, N., CodeShredder, Spreckelen, F., Balamurugan, A., Lowe, S., Stocker, M., Kempf, D., Hinrichs, I., Schindler, U., and Abou Housien, Q.: pangaea-data-publisher/pangaeapy: v1.1.0 (v1.1.0), Zenodo, https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15749619, 2025.
Hugelius, G., Loisel, J., Chadburn, S., Jackson, R. B., Jones, M., MacDonald, G., Marushchak, M., Olefeldt, D., Packalen, M., Siewert, M. B., and Treat, C.: Large stocks of peatland carbon and nitrogen are vulnerable to permafrost thaw, P. Natl. Acad. Sci., 117, 20438–20446, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1916387117, 2020.
Jones, M. C. and Yu, Z.: Rapid deglacial and early Holocene expansion of peatlands in Alaska, P. Natl. Acad. Sci., 107, 7347–7352, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0911387107, 2010.
Kleinen, T., Brovkin, V., and Schuldt, R. J.: A dynamic model of wetland extent and peat accumulation: results for the Holocene, Biogeosciences, 9, 235–248, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-9-235-2012, 2012.
Kock, S. T., Schittek, K., Mächtle, B., Maldonado, A., Vos, H., Lupo, L. C., Kulemeyer, J. J., Wissel, H., Schäbitz, F., and Lücke, A.: Multi‐centennial‐scale variations of South American summer monsoon intensity in the southern central Andes (24–27° S) during the late Holocene, Geophys. Res. Lett., 47, e2019GL084157, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL084157, 2020.
Korhola, A., Ruppel, M., Seppä, H., Väliranta, M., Virtanen, T., and Weckström, J.: The importance of northern peatland expansion to the late-Holocene rise of atmospheric methane, Quaternary Sci. Rev., 29, 611–617, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2009.12.010, 2010.
Kurnianto, S., Warren, M., Talbot, J., Kauffman, B., Murdiyarso, D., and Frolking, S.: Carbon accumulation of tropical peatlands over millennia: a modeling approach, Glob. Change Biol., 21, 431–444, https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.12672, 2015.
Loisel, J. and Gallego-Sala, A.: New research directions for the PAGES C-PEAT working group, Past Global Changes Magazine, 26, 91, https://doi.org/10.22498/pages.26.2.91, 2018.
Loisel, J., Yu, Z., Beilman, D. W., Camill, P., Alm, J., Amesbury, M. J., Anderson, D., Andersson, S., Bochicchio, C., Barber, K., Belyea, L. R., Bunbury, J., Chambers, F. M., Charman, D. J., De Vleeschouwer, F., Fiałkiewicz-Kozieł, B., Finkelstein, S. A., Gałka, M., Garneau, M., Hammarlund, D., Hinchcliffe, W., Holmquist, J., Hughes, P., Jones, M.C., Klein, E. S., Kokfelt, U., Korhola, A., Kuhry, P., Lamarre, A., Lamentowicz, M., Large, D., Lavoie, M., MacDonald, G., Magnan, G., Mäkilä, M., Mallon, G., Mathijssen, P., Mauquoy, D., McCarroll, J., Moore, T. R., Nichols, J., O'Reilly, B., Oksanen, P., Packalen, M., Peteet, D., Richard, P. J. H., Robinson, S., Ronkainen, T., Rundgren, M., Sannel, A. B. K., Tarnocai, C., Thom, T., Tuittila, E.-S., Turetsky, M., Väliranta, M., van der Linden, M., van Geel, B., van Bellen, S., Vitt, D., Zhao, Y., and Zhou, W.: A database and synthesis of northern peatland soil properties and Holocene carbon and nitrogen accumulation, Holocene, 24, 1028-42, https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683614538073, 2014.
Loisel, J., van Bellen, S., Pelletier, L., Talbot, J., Hugelius, G., Karran, D., Yu, Z., Nichols, J., and Holmquist, J.: Insights and issues with estimating northern peatland carbon stocks and fluxes since the Last Glacial Maximum, Earth-Sci. Rev., 165, 59–80, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2016.12.001, 2017.
Loisel, J., Gallego-Sala, A. V., Amesbury, M. J., Magnan, G., Anshari, G., Beilman, D., Benavides, J. C., Blewett, J., Camill, P., Charman, D. J., Chawchai, S., Hedgpeth, A., Kleinen, T., Korhola, A., Large, D., Mansilla, C. A., Müller, J., van Bellen, S., West, J. B., Yu, Z., Bubier, J., Garneau, M., Moore, T., Sannel, A. B. K., Page, S., Väliranta, M., Bechtold, M., Brovkin, V., Cole, L. E. S., Chanton, J.P., Christensen, T. R., Davies, M. A., De Vleeschouwer, F., Finkelstein, S. A., Frolking, S., Gałka, M., Gandois, L., Girkin, N., Harris, L., Heinemeyer, A., Hoyt, A. M., Jones, M. C., Joos, F., Juutinen, S., Kaiser, K., Lacourse, T., Lamentowicz, M., Larmola, T., Leifeld, J., Lohila, A., Milner, A., Minkkinen, K., Moss, P., Naafs, B. D. A., Nichols, J., O'Donnell, J., Payne, R., Philben, M., Quillet, A., Ratnayake, A. S., Roland, T., Sjogersten, S., Sonnentag, O., Swindles, G. T., Swinnen, W., Talbot, J., Treat, C., Valach, A. C., Wu, J., and Piilo, S.: Expert assessment of future vulnerability of the global peatland carbon sink. Nat. Clim. Change, 11, 70–77, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-020-00944-0, 2021.
Loisel, J., Ransby, D., and Gallego-Sala, A. V. (Eds.): C-PEAT global database (v. 2025), PANGAEA [data set editorial publication], https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.986891, 2025.
MacDonald, G. M., Beilman, D. W., Kremenetski, K. V., Sheng, Y., Smith, L. C., and Velichko, A. A.: Rapid early development of circumarctic peatlands and atmospheric CH4 and CO2 variations, Science, 314, 285–288, 2006.
Markowitz, V. M., Chen, I. M., Chu, K., Pati, A., Ivanova, N. N., and Kyrpides, N. C.: Ten years of maintaining and expanding a microbial genome and metagenome analysis system, Trends Microbiol., 23, 730–741, 2015.
Müller, J. and Joos, F.: Committed and projected future changes in global peatlands – continued transient model simulations since the Last Glacial Maximum, Biogeosciences, 18, 3657–3687, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-3657-2021, 2021.
Nichols, J. E. and Peteet, D. M.: Rapid expansion of northern peatlands and doubled estimate of carbon storage, Nat. Geosci., 12, 917–921, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0454-z, 2019.
Packalen, M. S., Finkelstein, S. A., and McLaughlin, J. W.: Carbon storage and potential methane production in the Hudson Bay Lowlands since mid-Holocene peat initiation, Nat. Commun., 5, 4078, https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms5078, 2014.
Petrokofsky, G., Kanamaru, H., Achard, F., Goetz, S. J., Joosten, H., Holmgren, P., Lehtonen, A., Menton, M. C., Pullin, A. S., and Wattenbach, M.: Comparison of methods for measuring and assessing carbon stocks and carbon stock changes in terrestrial carbon pools. How do the accuracy and precision of current methods compare? A systematic review protocol, Environmental Evidence, 1, 1–21, 2012.
Piilo, S. R., Zhang, H., Garneau, M., Gallego-Sala, A., Amesbury, M. J., and Väliranta, M. M.: Recent peat and carbon accumulation following the Little Ice Age in northwestern Québec, Canada, Environ. Res. Lett., 14, 075002, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab11ec, 2019.
Qiu, C., Zhu, D., Ciais, P., Guenet, B., Krinner, G., Peng, S., Aurela, M., Bernhofer, C., Brümmer, C., Bret-Harte, S., Chu, H., Chen, J., Desai, A. R., Dušek, J., Euskirchen, E. S., Fortuniak, K., Flanagan, L. B., Friborg, T., Grygoruk, M., Gogo, S., Grünwald, T., Hansen, B. U., Holl, D., Humphreys, E., Hurkuck, M., Kiely, G., Klatt, J., Kutzbach, L., Largeron, C., Laggoun-Défarge, F., Lund, M., Lafleur, P. M., Li, X., Mammarella, I., Merbold, L., Nilsson, M. B., Olejnik, J., Ottosson-Löfvenius, M., Oechel, W., Parmentier, F.-J. W., Peichl, M., Pirk, N., Peltola, O., Pawlak, W., Rasse, D., Rinne, J., Shaver, G., Schmid, H. P., Sottocornola, M., Steinbrecher, R., Sachs, T., Urbaniak, M., Zona, D., and Ziemblinska, K.: ORCHIDEE-PEAT (revision 4596), a model for northern peatland CO2, water, and energy fluxes on daily to annual scales, Geosci. Model Dev., 11, 497–519, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-497-2018, 2018.
Qiu, C., Zhu, D., Ciais, P., Guenet, B., and Peng, S.: The role of northern peatlands in the global carbon cycle for the 21st century, Global Ecol. Biogeogr., 29, 956–973, 2020.
Ransby, D., Riemann-Campe, K., and Sanderson, N.: C-PEAT data retrieval from PANGAEA (R & Python (2.1)), Zenodo [code], https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20734314, 2026.
Reichman, O. J., Jones, M. B., and Schildhauer, M. P.: Challenges and opportunities of open data in ecology, Science, 331, 703–705, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1197962, 2011.
Ruwaimana, M., Anshari, G. Z., Silva, L. C., and Gavin, D. G.: The oldest extant tropical peatland in the world: a major carbon reservoir for at least 47 000 years, Environ. Res. Lett., 15, 114027, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abb853, 2020.
Smith, L. C., MacDonald, G. M., Velichko, A. A., Beilman, D. W., Borisova, O. K., Frey, K. E., Kremenetski, K. V., and Sheng, Y.: Siberian peatlands a net carbon sink and global methane source since the early Holocene, Science, 303, 353–356, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1090553, 2004.
Skye, J., Melton, J. R., Goldblatt, C., Gallego-Sala, A., Garneau, M., and Winton, S.: PeatDepth-ML: a global map of peat depth predicted using machine learning, Biogeosciences, 23, 2959–2983, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-2959-2026, 2026.
Spahni, R., Joos, F., Stocker, B. D., Steinacher, M., and Yu, Z. C.: Transient simulations of the carbon and nitrogen dynamics in northern peatlands: from the Last Glacial Maximum to the 21st century, Clim. Past, 9, 1287–1308, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-1287-2013, 2013.
Tolonen, K. and Turunen, J.: Accumulation rates of carbon in mires in Finland and implications for climate change, Holocene, 6, 171–178, 1996.
Treat, C. C., Jones, M. C., Camill, P., Gallego‐Sala, A., Garneau, M., Harden, J. W., Hugelius, G., Klein, E. S., Kokfelt, U., Kuhry, P., and Loisel, J.: Effects of permafrost aggradation on peat properties as determined from a pan‐Arctic synthesis of plant macrofossils, J. Geophys. Res.-Biogeo., 121, 78–94, https://doi.org/10.1002/2015JG003061, 2015.
Treat, C., Broothaerts, N., Dalton, A., Dommain, R., Douglas, T., Drexler, J., Finkelstein, S., Grosse, G., Hope, G., Hutchings, J., Jones, M., Kleinen, T., Kuhry, P., Lacourse, T., Lähteenoja, O., Loisel, J., Notebaert, B., Payne, R., Peteet, D., Sannel, B., Stelling, J., Strauss, J., Swindles, G., Talbot, J., Tarnocai, C., Verstraeten, G., Williams, C., Xia, Z., Yu, Z., and Brovkin, V.: Widespread global peatland establishment and persistence over the last 130,000 y, P. Natl. Acad. Sci., 116, 4822–4827, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1813305116, 2019.
Treat, C. C., Jones, M. C., Brosius, L., Grosse, G., Anthony, K. W., and Frolking, S.: The role of wetland expansion and successional processes in methane emissions from northern wetlands during the Holocene, Quaternary Sci. Rev., 257, 106864, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2021.106864, 2021.
Turetsky, M. R., Abbott, B. W., Jones, M. C., Anthony, K. W., Olefeldt, D., Schuur, E. A., Grosse, G., Kuhry, P., Hugelius, G., Koven, C., Lawrence, D. M., Gibson, C., Sannel, A. B. K., and McGuire, A. D.: Carbon release through abrupt permafrost thaw, Nat. Geosci., 13, 138–143, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0526-0, 2020.
Turunen, J., Tomppo, E., Tolonen, K., and Reinikainen, A.: Estimating carbon accumulation rates of undrained mires in Finland–application to boreal and subarctic regions, Holocene, 12, 69–80, 2002.
UNEP: Global Peatlands Assessment – The State of the World's Peatlands: Evidence for action toward the conservation, restoration, and sustainable management of peatlands, Main Report, Global Peatlands Initiative, United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi, https://wedocs.unep.org/handle/20.500.11822/41222 (last access: 17 August 2026), 2022.
Vines, T. H., Albert, A. Y., Andrew, R. L., Débarre, F., Bock, D. G., Franklin, M. T., Gilbert, K. J., Moore, J. S., Renaut, S., and Rennison, D. J.: The availability of research data declines rapidly with article age, Curr. Biol., 24, 94–97, 2014.
Widyastuti, M. T., Minasny, B., Padarian, J., Maggi, F., Aitkenhead, M., Beucher, A., Connolly, J., Fiantis, D., Kidd, D., Ma, Y., and Macfarlane, F.: Digital mapping of peat thickness and carbon stock of global peatlands, Catena, 258, 109243, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2025.109243, 2025.
Wolkovich, E. M., Regetz, J., and O'Connor, M. I.: Advances in global change research require open science by individual researchers, Glob. Change Biol., 18, 2102–2110, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2012.02693.x, 2012.
Young, D. M., Baird, A. J., Charman, D. J., Evans, C. D., Gallego-Sala, A. V., Gill, P. J., Hughes, P. D., Morris, P. J., and Swindles, G. T.: Misinterpreting carbon accumulation rates in records from near-surface peat, Sci. Rep., 9, 17939, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-53879-8, 2019.
Young, D. M., Baird, A. J., Gallego-Sala, A. V., and Loisel, J.: A cautionary tale about using the apparent carbon accumulation rate (aCAR) obtained from peat cores, Sci. Rep., 11, 9547, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-88766-8, 2021.
Yu, Z., Loisel, J., Brosseau, D. P., Beilman, D. W., and Hunt, S. J.: Global peatland dynamics since the Last Glacial Maximum, Geophys. Res. Lett., 37, https://doi.org/10.1029/2010GL043584, 2010.
Yu, Z., Loisel, J., Turetsky, M. R., Cai, S., Zhao, Y., Frolking, S., MacDonald, G. M., and Bubier, J. L.: Evidence for elevated emissions from high‐latitude wetlands contributing to high atmospheric CH4 concentration in the early Holocene, Global Biogeochem. Cy., 27, 131–140, https://doi.org/10.1002/gbc.20025, 2013.
Yu, Z. C.: Northern peatland carbon stocks and dynamics: a review, Biogeosciences, 9, 4071–4085, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-9-4071-2012, 2012.
Short summary
Over the past few decades, a lot of field-based work has been performed around the world to describe the carbon-sink capacity of peatland ecosystems. Here we provide a synthesis product that includes stratigraphic and chronological data from 267 peatland cores. Each one of these datasets is individually downloadable and openly usable through PANGAEA. We also provide scripts (R and Python) to download portions of the database.
Over the past few decades, a lot of field-based work has been performed around the world to...
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint