Improved estimates of soil organic carbon storage in the Zackenberg valley, NE Greenland by combining geomorphology and land cover.

Abstract:

Recent estimates indicate that soils in the northern circumpolar permafrost region store substantial amounts of soil organic carbon (SOC). These soils have large regional and landscape-level variability depending on topographic, ecoclimatic and edaphic factors. This study improves the existing upscaling product from Zackenberg, NE Greenland on SOC storage by using a combination of geomorphological units and land cover classes. Especially in mountainous regions the same vegetation types show in some cases great differences in their SOC storage depending on their topographical position, which makes their further separation into landform units crucial for better upscaling estimates.