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From CSDMS
CSDMS 2025: Exploring Earth's Surface with Models, Data & AI
Global soil carbon potential – What if everyone is right and where do we go from here?
Abstract
There has been an explosion of interest in soil carbon sequestration as a natural carbon reduction strategy. Soil carbon stocks are an appealing reservoir for sequestering anthropogenic carbon dioxide due to their relatively low risk, low technological barrier, and potential for long residence time. But how much carbon sequestration potential is there globally? Where are the places soils currently accumulating anthropogenic carbon dioxide and would these locations lend themselves to more active management interventions? Two very contrasting approaches are being taken in soil science: digital soil mapping approaches rooted in soil carbon stock surveys and machine learning, as well as process models rooted in soil carbon flux studies and differential equations. In this talk we’ll explore where these representations deviate, how they could be reconciled, and how we can use modeling as a tool to expand our understanding of soil carbon potential for carbon dioxide draw down in the future.
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