New Soil Atlas Shows Role of Northern Soils in Climate Change
13.09.2010 - Land & Geology, Ice & Snow, Flora & Fauna, Human Dimension, Arctic
The Soil Atlas of the Northern Circumpolar Region contains the results of a three-year collaborative project with partners from northern EU countries, as well as Norway, Iceland, Greenland, Canada, the USA and Russia. The atlas gives a detailed overview of circumpolar soil resources relevant to agriculture, forest management, water management, land use planning, infrastructure, housing and energy transport networks.
This atlas, the first ever soil atlas of the Arctic circumpolar region, hopes to raise awareness of the environmental importance and global significance of northern soils and permafrost. Mostly unknown to the general public, the permafrost soils in these regions have the ability to store up to half of the Earth’s soil carbon, thus making the circumpolar Arctic a crucial carbon sink. This impact on global climate, however, is largely unknown, and while the general public is aware of the melting Arctic, the threat posed by thawing permafrost as it releases wide amounts of methane into the atmosphere are often ignored.
By discussing the possible impacts of climate change in the northern regions, the atlas, undertaken under the auspices of the International Polar Year (IPY), explains their crucial role in maintaining the global climate. The maps, produced through the elaboration of harmonized soil databases for the northern circumpolar areas by Geographic Information Systems software (GIS), draw special attention on the impact of cold climates on soil characteristics, and on the relationship between climate change and soils properties (e.g. carbon dynamics, carbon sinks and sources, methane emission).
