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Soil Organic Carbon Content
Soil organic carbon, the major component of soil organic matter, is extremely important in all soil processes. Organic material in the soil is essentially derived from residual plant and animal material, synthesised by microbes and decomposed under the influence of temperature, moisture and ambient soil conditions. The annual rate of loss of organic matter can vary greatly, depending on cultivation practices, the type of plant/crop cover, drainage status of the soil and weather conditions. There are two groups of factors that influence inherent organic matter content: natural factors (climate, soil parent material, land cover and/or vegetation and topography), and human-induced factors (land use, management and degradation). Soil organic carbon (SOC) is the largest carbon (C) stock in most terrestrial ecosystems (Lal, 2008a), containing approximately 2344 Gt of organic C globally (Stockmann et al., 2013). Moreover, soil is recognized as the second largest C pool after the oceans and one of the most important components of the biosphere, delivering major ecosystem services and functions (Ogle & Paustian, 2005). Policy frameworks influencing land use and land use changes could trigger dramatic changes in SOC levels. At a global scale, guidelines to quantify changes in greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural soils, land-use changes and forestry categories have been adopted in the ‘Land Use, Land- Use Change and Forestry’ (LULUCF) activities, listed in articles 3.3 and 3.4 of the Kyoto Protocol (UN, 1997). Following LULUCF Decision 529/2013 accounting for cropland and grazing land management has become mandatory for EU Member States. European Soil Data Centre makes available the data and information on soil organic carbon both at European scale and Global scale.
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Title: Carbon mitigation potential and radiative agricultural land management | |
Resource Type: Datasets, Soil Functions Data Theme/Sub-Theme: Network/Cooperations: Project/s: Registration requested: Request Form |
Continent: Country: Italy Year: 2020 Publisher: European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) Language: en Scale: Keywords: |
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Title: Soil GHG fluxes using LUCAS soil-DayCent (for EU) | |
Resource Type: Datasets, Soil Functions Data Theme/Sub-Theme: Network/Cooperations: Project/s: Registration requested: Request Form |
Continent: Year: 2018 Scale: Keywords: |
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Title: N2O emissions from agricultural soils in Europe | |
Resource Type: Datasets, Soil Projects Data Theme/Sub-Theme: Network/Cooperations: Project/s: Registration requested: Request Form |
Continent: Author: Emanuele Lugato Year: 2017 Publisher: European Commission - DG JRC Scale: Keywords: |
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Title: Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) Projections for Europe | |
Resource Type: Datasets Theme/Sub-Theme: Network/Cooperations: Project/s: Registration requested: Request Form |
Continent: Author: Yusuf Yigini and Panos Panagos, European Commission Year: 2016 Scale: Keywords: |
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Title: Topsoil Soil Organic Carbon (LUCAS) for EU25 | |
Resource Type: Datasets, Soil Threats Data Theme/Sub-Theme: Network/Cooperations: Project/s: Registration requested: Request Form |
Continent: Year: 2015 Publisher: European Commission Joint Research Centre Scale: Keywords: |
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Title: Pan-European SOC stock of agricultural soils | |
Resource Type: Datasets, Soil Threats Data Theme/Sub-Theme: Network/Cooperations: Project/s: Registration requested: Request Form |
Continent: Year: 2013 Publisher: European Commission Joint Research Centre Scale: Keywords: |
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Title: Global Soil Organic Carbon Estimates | |
Resource Type: Datasets, Soil Threats Data Theme/Sub-Theme: Network/Cooperations: Project/s: Registration requested: Request Form |
Continent: Author: R. Hiederer, M. Köchy Year: 2012 Publisher: Joint Research Centre of the European Commission Scale: Keywords: |
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Title: OCTOP: Topsoil Organic Carbon Content for Europe | |
Resource Type: Datasets, Soil Threats Data Theme/Sub-Theme: Network/Cooperations: Project/s: Registration requested: Request Form |
Continent: Author: Jones, R.J.A., Hiederer, R., Rusco, E., Loveland, P.J. and Montanarella, L. Year: 2004 Language: en Scale: Keywords: |
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