By bringing together data on permafrost stability, soils, and other Arctic conditions, scientists have plotted where permafrost is vulnerable to collapse, which could release long-stored carbon.
soils
Posted inScience Updates
Advancing Soil Carbon Cycle Science
Workshop to celebrate 2015–2024 International Decade of Soil; Boulder, Colorado, 14–16 March, 2016
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Carbon Dioxide Frost May Keep Martian Soil Dusty
Temperature readings acquired from orbit show that Mars's surface gets cold enough at night to allow layers of solid carbon dioxide frost up to several hundred micrometers thick to build up near the equator.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Curiosity Sends Curious Water Data from Mars
The rover's neutron spectroscopy instrument hints at an unexpected trend: The upper soil levels in the layers of Gale Crater's Kimberley formation seem to hold more water-associated hydrogen.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
How Much Dissolved Mercury Is Present in Streams?
The results of a new study suggest that an improved understanding of the processes mobilizing mercury in soils will be necessary to predict water quality impacts.
Posted inScience Updates
Seeking Knowledge in the Dust
The Batsheva de Rothschild Seminar on Atmospheric Dust, Dust Deposits (Loess) and Soils in Deserts and Desert Fringe: The Sahara-Sinai-Negev as an Analogue for the Global Arid Regions; Jerusalem and the Negev Desert, 14–19 October 2015
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Permafrost Area Is Sensitive to Key Soil and Snow Physics
Accounting for key soil and snow variables shows a much higher impact on simulated permafrost area than uncertainties in land cover and climate data.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Soil Loses Pyrogenic Carbon by an Unexpected Pathway
Fresh insight into pyrogenic carbon disappearance suggests that erosion is not responsible.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Soil Crusts Play a Dual Role in Desertification
Rain falling on bare soil can form a hard crust that prevents further infiltration. But do these crusts worsen land degradation or help to prevent it?
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Details of Gas Flow in Wetland Plant Roots Unearthed
Scientists track the flow of trace gases through wetland root systems to understand the role of plants in biogenic gas fluxes.