References

ESSD

Earth System Science Data

ESSD

Earth Syst. Sci. Data

1866-3516

Copernicus Publications

Göttingen, Germany

10.5194/essd-5-3-2013

The Northern Circumpolar Soil Carbon Database: spatially distributed datasets of soil coverage and soil carbon storage in the northern permafrost regions

Hugelius

¹ Tarnocai

² Broll

³ Canadell

J. G.

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8788-3218

⁴ Kuhry

¹ Swanson

D. K.

⁵

Department of Physical Geography and Quaternary Geology, Stockholm University, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden

Research Branch, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 960 Carling Ave., Ottawa, Ontario K1A0C6, Canada

Institute of Geography, University of Osnabrück, 49069 Osnabrück, Germany

Global Carbon Project, CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research, GPO Box 3023, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia

National Park Service, Fairbanks Administrative Center, 4175 Geist Road, Fairbanks, Alaska 99709, USA

15 01 2013

5 1 3 13

2013

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

This article is available from https://essd.copernicus.org/articles/5/3/2013/essd-5-3-2013.html

The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://essd.copernicus.org/articles/5/3/2013/essd-5-3-2013.pdf

High-latitude terrestrial ecosystems are key components in the global carbon (C) cycle. Estimates of global soil organic carbon (SOC), however, do not include updated estimates of SOC storage in permafrost-affected soils or representation of the unique pedogenic processes that affect these soils. The Northern Circumpolar Soil Carbon Database (NCSCD) was developed to quantify the SOC stocks in the circumpolar permafrost region (18.7 × 106 km2). The NCSCD is a polygon-based digital database compiled from harmonized regional soil classification maps in which data on soil order coverage have been linked to pedon data (n = 1778) from the northern permafrost regions to calculate SOC content and mass. In addition, new gridded datasets at different spatial resolutions have been generated to facilitate research applications using the NCSCD (standard raster formats for use in geographic information systems and Network Common Data Form files common for applications in numerical models). This paper describes the compilation of the NCSCD spatial framework, the soil sampling and soil analytical procedures used to derive SOC content in pedons from North America and Eurasia and the formatting of the digital files that are available online. The potential applications and limitations of the NCSCD in spatial analyses are also discussed. The database has the <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.5879/ecds/00000001"target="_blank">doi:10.5879/ecds/00000001</a>. An open access data portal with all the described GIS-datasets is available online at: <a href="http://www.bbcc.su.se/data/ncscd/"target="_blank">http://www.bbcc.su.se/data/ncscd/</a>.

References 1

Amundson, A.: The Carbon budget in soils, Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sc., 29, 535–62, 2001.

Arnalds, O. and Gretarsson, E.: Generalized Soil Map of Iceland, 2nd Edn., Agric. Res. Inst., Reykjavik, Iceland, 2001.

Arinushkina, E. V.: Manual for Chemical Analysis of Soils, 2nd Edn., Moscow State University, Moscow, 487 pp., 1970 (in Russian).

Bouma, J. and Van Lanen, H. A. J.: Transfer functions and threshold values: from soil characteristics to land qualities, in: Quantified Land Evaluation, edited by: Beek, K. J., Burrough, P. A., and McCormack, D. E., ITC Publication 6, International Institute for Aerospace Survey and Earth Sciences, Enschede, 106–110, 1987.

Batjes, N. H.: Total carbon and nitrogen in the soils of the world, Eur. J. Soil Sci., 47, 151–163, 1996.

Bockheim, J. G.: Importance of cryoturbation in redistributing organic carbon in permafrost-affected soils, Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., 71, 1335–1342, 2007.

Bohn, H. L.: Estimate of organic carbon in world soils: II, Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., 46, 1118–1119, 1982.

Botch, M. S., Kobak, K. I., Vinson, T. S., and Kolchugina, T. P.: Carbon pools and accumulation in peatlands of the former Soviet Union, Global Biochem. Cy., 9, 37–46, 1995.

Brown, J., Ferrians Jr., O. J., Heginbottom, J. A., and Melnikov, E. S.: Circum-Arctic map of permafrost and ground-ice conditions, 1:10 000 000, Map CP-45, United States Geological Survey, International Permafrost Association, 1997.

Brown, J., Ferrians Jr., O. J., Heginbottom, J. A., and Melnikov, E. S.: Circum-Arctic Map of Permafrost and Ground-Ice Conditions, version 2, Boulder, Colorado USA, National Snow and Ice Data Center, 2002.

Carter, M. R. (Ed.): Soil Sampling and Methods of Analysis, Canadian Society of Soil Science, Lewis Publishers, Boca Raton, Florida, 823 pp., 1993.

Culley, J. L. B.: Density and compressibility, in: Soil Sampling and Methods of Analysis, edited by: Carter, M. R., Canadian Society of Soil Science, Lewis Publishers, Boca Raton, Florida, Chapter 71, 529–539, 1993.

Davidson, E. A. and Janssens, I. A.: Temperature sensitivity of soil carbon decomposition and feedbacks to climate change, Nature, 440, 165–173, 2006.

Dean, W. E.: Determination of carbonate and organic matter in calcareous sediments and sedimentary rocks by loss on ignition: Comparison with other methods, J. Sediment. Petrol., 44, 242–248, 1974.

Dorzhgotov, D. and Nogina, N. A.: Khors (The soil map of Mongolia), in: Bügd Nairamdakh Mongol ArdUls, Undesnii Atlas (National Atlas of the Mongolian People's Republic), edited by: Orshikh, N., Morgunova, N. A., and Rodionov, M. N., 66–67, BNMAU-yn Shinzhlekh Ukhaany Akad., Ulan Bator, 1990 (in Russian).

ESRI: ArcGIS Desktop: Release 10, Environmental Systems Research Institute, Redlands, CA, USA, 2011.

Eswaran, H., Van Den Berg, E., and Reich, P.: Organic carbon in soils of the world, Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., 57, 192–194, 1993.

European Soil Bureau: The European Soil Database, version 1.0[CD-ROM], Joint Res. Cent., Ispra, Italy, 1999.

Expert Committee on Soil Survey: The Canada Soil Information System (CanSIS), Manual for Describing Soils in the Field, edited by: Day, J. H., Research Branch Agriculture Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, 1983.

FAO/IIASA/ISRIC/ISS-CAS/JRC: Harmonized World Soil Database (version 1.2). FAO, Rome, Italy and IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria, 2012.

Fridland, V. M.: Pochvennaya karta RSFSR (Soil map of theRSFSR), scale 1:2 500 000, V. V. Dokuchayev Soils Inst., Admin. for Geod. And Cartogr., Gosagroprom, Moscow, 1988.

Gruber, N., Friedlingstein, P., Field, C. B., Valentini, R., Heimann, M., Richey, J. E., Romero-Lankao, P., Schulze, D., and Chen, C. T. A.: The vulnerability of the carbon cycle in the 21st century: An assessment of carbon-climate-human interactions, in: The Global Carbon Cycle: Integrating Humans, Climate, and the Natural World, edited by: Field, C. and Raupach, M., Island Press, Washington, DC, 45–76, 2004.

Hiederer, R. and Köchy, M.: Global Soil Organic Carbon Estimates and the Harmonized World Soil Database, EUR 25225 EN, Publications Office of the European Union, 79 pp., 2011.

Hugelius, G.: Spatial upscaling using thematic maps: an analysis of uncertainties in permafrost soil carbon estimates, Global Biogeochem. Cy., 26, GB2026, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2011GB004154">https://doi.org/10.1029/2011GB004154</a>, 2012.

Hugelius, G. and Kuhry, P.: Landscape partitioning and environmental gradient analyses of soil organic carbon in a permafrost environment, Global Biogeochem. Cy., 23, GB3006, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2008GB003419">https://doi.org/10.1029/2008GB003419</a>, 2009.

Hugelius, G., Kuhry, P., Tarnocai, C., and Virtanen, T.: Soil Organic Carbon Pools in a Periglacial Landscape; a Case Study from the Central Canadian Arctic, Permafrost Periglac., 21, 16–29, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ppp.677">https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp.677</a>, 2010.

Hugelius, G., Virtanen T., Kaverin D., Pastukhov A., Rivkin F., Marchenko S., Romanovsky V., and Kuhry P.: High-resolution mapping of ecosystem carbon storage and potential effects of permafrost thaw in periglacial terrain, European Russian Arctic, J. Geophys. Res., 116, G03024, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2010JG001606">https://doi.org/10.1029/2010JG001606</a>, 2011.

IUSS Working Group WRB: World reference base for soil resources 2006: First update 2007, Rep. 103, Food and Agric. Org. of the U.N., Rome, Italy, 2007.

Jakobsen, B. H. and Eiby, A.: A soil map of Greenland, in: 2nd International Conference on Cryopedology, edited by: Zaboeva, I. V., p. 43, Inst. of Biol., Komi Sci. Cent., Russ. Acad. of Sci., Syktyvkar, Russia, 1997.

Jobbagy, E. G. and Jackson, R. B.: The Vertical Distribution of Soil Organic Carbon and Its Relation to Climate and Vegetation, Ecol. Appl., 10, 423–436, 2000.

Jones, A., Stolbovoi, V., Tarnocai, C., Broll, G., Spaargaren, O., and Montanarella, L. (Eds.): Soil Atlas of the Northern Circumpolar Region, European Commision, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 144 pp., 2010.

Khvorostyanov, D. V., Ciais, P., Krinner, G., Zimov, S. A., Corradi, C., and Guggenberger, G.: Vulnerability of permafrost carbon to global warming. Part II: sensitivity of permafrost carbon stock to global warming, Tellus B, 60, 265–275, 2008.

Kogut, B. and Frid, A.: Comparative evaluation of methods of determining humus concentration in soils, Pochvovedenie, 9, 119–123, 1993 (in Russian).

Koven, C. D., Ringeval, B., Friedlingstein, P., Ciais, P., Cadule, P., Khvorostyanov, D., Krinner, G., and Tarnocai, C.: Permafrost carbon-climate feedbacks accelerate global warming, P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 108, 14769–14774, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1103910108">https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1103910108</a>, 2011.

Kuhry, P., Mazhitova, G. G., Forest, P.-A., Deneva, S. V., Virtanen, T., and Kultti, S.: Upscaling soil organic carbon estimates for the Usa Basin (Northeast European Russia) using GIS-based landcover and soil classification schemes, Dan. J. Geogr., 102, 11–25, 2002.

Kuhry, P., Dorrepaal, E., Hugelius, G., Schuur, E. A. G., and Tarnocai, C.: Potential remobilization of belowground permafrost carbon under future global warming, Permafrost Periglac., 21, 208–214, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ppp.684">https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp.684</a>, 2010.

McFarlane, I. C. (Ed.): Muskeg Engineering Handbook, National Research Council of Canada, Associate Committee on Geotechnical Research, Muskeg Subcommittee, University of Toronto Press, Toronto, Canada, 1969.

McGuire, A. D., Anderson, L. G., Christensen, T. R., Dallimore, S., Guo, L., Hayes, D. J., Heimann, M., Lorenson, T. D., Macdonald, R. W., and Roulet, N.: Sensitivity of the carbon cycle in the Arctic to climate change, Ecol. Monogr., 79, 523–555, 2009.

Naumov, E. M.: Soil map of the north-east of Eurasia, scale 1:2 500 000, V. V. Dokuchaev Soil Inst., Moscow, 1993.

Openshaw, S.: The modifiable unit areal problem. Concepts and Techniques in Modern Geography, Vol. 38, Geo Books, Norwich, UK, 1–40, 1984.

Ping, C. L., Michaelson, G. J., Jorgenson, M. T., Kimble, J. M, Epstein, H., Romanovsky, V. E., and Walker, D. A.: High stocks of soil organic carbon in the North American region, Nat. Geosci., 1, 615–619, 2008a.

Ping, C. L., Michaelson, G. J., Kimble, J. M., Romanovsky, V. E., Shur, Y. L., Swanson, D. K., and Walker, D. A.: Cryogenesis and soil formation along a bioclimate gradient in Arctic North America, J. Geophys. Res., 113, G03S12, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2008JG000744">https://doi.org/10.1029/2008JG000744</a>, 2008b.

Post, W. M., Emmanuel, W. R., Zinke, P. J., and Stangenberger, A. G.: Soil carbon pools and world life zones, Nature, 298, 156–159, 1982.

Schaefer, K., Zhang, T., Bruhwiler, L., and Barrett, A. P.: Amount and timing of permafrost carbon release in response to climate warming, Tellus B, 63, 165–180, 2011.

Schlesinger, W. H.: Carbon balance in terrestrial detritus, Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst., 8, 51–81, 1977.

Schuur, E. A. G., Bockheim, J., Canadell, J. G., Euskirchen, E., Field, C. B., Goryachkin, S. V, Hagemann, S., Kuhry, P., Lafleur, P. M., Lee, H., Mazhitova, G., Nelson, F. E., Rinke, A., Romanovsky, V. E., Shiklomanov, N., Tarnocai, C., Venevsky, S., Vogel, J. G., and Zimov, S. A.: Vulnerability of Permafrost Carbon to Climate Change: Implications for the Global Carbon Cycle, BioScience, 58, 701–714, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1641/B580807">https://doi.org/10.1641/B580807</a>, 2008.

Schuur, E. A. G., Vogel, J. G., Crummer, K. G., Lee, H., Sickman, J. O., and Osterkamp, T. E.: The effect of permafrost thaw on old carbon release and net carbon exchange from tundra, Nature, 459, 556–559, 2009.

Sheppard, M., Tarnocai, C., and Thibault, D. H.: Sampling organic soils, in: Soil Sampling and Methods of Analysis, edited by: Carter, M. R., Canadian Society of Soil Science, Lewis Publishers, Boca Raton, Florida, Chapter 42, 423–439, 1993.

Soil Classification Working Group: The Canadian System of Soil Classification, Agriculture and Agrifood Canada Publ. 1646 (revised), NRC Research Press, Ottawa, Canada, 187 pp., 1998.

Soil Survey Staff: Soil Survey Manual, US Department of Agriculture, Handbook No. 18, Washington, DC, USA, 437 pp., 1993.

Soil Survey Staff: Soil Survey Laboratory Methods Manual, Soil Survey Investigations Report No. 42, US Department of Agriculture, National Soil Survey Center, Lincoln, NE, 693 pp., 1996.

Soil Survey Staff: The State Soil Geographic Database, STATSGO, USDA-NRCS, National Soil Survey Center, Lincoln, NE, USA, 1997.

Soil Survey Staff: Soil Taxonomy: A Basic System of Soil Classification for Making and Interpreting Soil Surveys, in: Agric. Handb., vol. 436, 2nd Edn, US Dep. of Agric., Washington, DC, USA, 869 pp., 1999.

Tarnocai, C.: Sampling frozen soils, in: Soil Sampling and Methods of Analysis, edited by: Carter, M. R., Canadian Society of Soil Science, Lewis Publishers, Boca Raton, Florida, Chapter 71, 755–765, 1993.

Tarnocai, C. and Bockheim, J. G.: Cryosolic soils of Canada: Genesis, distribution and classification, Can. J. Soil Sci., 91, 749–762, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.4141/CJSS10020">https://doi.org/10.4141/CJSS10020</a>, 2011.

Tarnocai, C. and Broll, G.: Soil Organic Carbon Stocks in the Northern Permafrost Region and Their Role in Climate Change, Ninth International Conference on Permafrost, Proceedings, 1751–1755, 2008.

Tarnocai, C. and Lacelle, B.: Soil organic carbon of Canada map, Eastern Cereal and Oilseed Research Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Research Branch, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, 1996.

Tarnocai, C., Swanson, D., Kimble, J., and Broll, G.: Northern Circumpolar Soil Carbon Database. Research Branch, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, Canada (digital database), 2007.

Tarnocai, C., Canadell, J., Mazhitova, G., Schuur, E. A. G., Kuhry, P., and Zimov, S.: Soil organic carbon stocks in the northern circumpolar permafrost region, Global Biogeochem. Cy., 23, GB2023, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2008GB003327">https://doi.org/10.1029/2008GB003327</a>, 2009.

Tyrin, U. V.: Soil organic matter and its role in the soil fertility, Nauka Publishing House, Moscow, Russia, 319 pp., 1965 (in Russian).

Uspanov, U. U. (Ed.): Pochvennaya karta Kazakhskoy SSR (Soil map of the Kazakh SSR), scale 1:2 500 000, Glavnoe Upravlenie Geodezii Kartografii, Moscow, 1976 (in Russian).

van Everdingen, R. (Ed.): Multi-language glossary of permafrost and related ground-ice terms, Boulder, CO: National Snow and Ice Data Center/World Data Center for Glaciology, 1998 (revised May 2005).

Zhang, T., Barry, R. G., Knowles, K., Heginbottom, J. A., and Brown, J.: Statistics and characteristics of permafrost and ground-ice distribution in the Northern Hemisphere, Polar Geography, 23, 132–154, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10889379909377670">https://doi.org/10.1080/10889379909377670</a>, 1999.

Zimov, S. A., Schuur, E. A. G., and Chapin, F. S.: Permafrost and the global carbon budget, Science, 312, 1612–1613, 2006.