Soil, carbon and climate change
05/11/2021
Organic matter in soil, which contains carbon originating from plants and organisms, is an important part of regulating the Earth’s climate. Soil is a huge store of carbon and is estimated to contain three times more carbon than the atmosphere!
However, in many areas soil carbon has been lost from soils through land use change, unsustainable land management. The soil carbon is also vulnerable to loss under increasing temperatures due to climate change. It is important to recognise that soil can both capture carbon and also be a source, by releasing carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere from the breakdown of organic matter.
Understanding where and how much carbon is stored in soil can help us focus on areas for protection, restoration, or improvement of soil organic matter. These maps can identify where we should be protecting and restoring soils that naturally have large carbon stores, such as peatlands. It can also recognise areas where there is the potential to increase carbon by changing land management or land use, such as areas of cropland that have been depleted in organic matter.
Take a look at the maps we have produced using soil data in England and Wales https://www.cranfield.ac.uk/themes/environment-and-agrifood/landis We used our soil carbon data in a global effort to determine the amount of carbon stored in soils across the planet – the total was a massive 680 billion tonnes of carbon in just the top 30 cm of soil! http://54.229.242.119/GSOCmap/
Categories & Tags:
Leave a comment on this post:
You might also like…
Sustainability by royal request: Managing an event fit for a King
The Coronation of King Charles III on May 6th 2023, was watched by millions of people around the world with tens of thousands of people travelling to Central London to witness the pageantry firsthand. ...
Getting started on your Master’s thesis
Please note: This post is intended to provide advice to all students undertaking a thesis in the Schools of Aerospace, Transport and Manufacturing; Water, Energy and Environment, and Defence and Security. There is separate advice ...
Finding your tribe: “Joining the sustainability community was the best decision”
For students on Cranfield’s Sustainability Business Specialist Apprenticeship, community and camaraderie is a vital component for success. Designed in consultation with industry, the part-time Level 7 apprenticeship aims to deepen participants’ knowledge of the ...
“My sustainability studies gave me the confidence to take on Amazon”
Not everyone would have the confidence to challenge a big global power like Amazon but, for Colin Featherstone, Senior Technology Manager and Tech Sustainability Lead at Morrisons, his Cranfield studies equipped him with the ...
My Apprenticeship Journey – Broadening Horizons
Laura, Senior Systems Engineer at a leading aircraft manufacturing company, joined Cranfield on the Systems Engineering Master’s Apprenticeship after initially considering taking a year off from her role to complete an MSc. Apprenticeship over MSc? ...
The Library app is back!
The Library app is back! It's exactly the same as before (although it will get a fresh look in a few months) and if you hadn't removed it from an existing device it should just ...