Landscape-scale variability in soil organic carbon storage in the central Canadian Arctic

Campeau, A. B., Lafleur, P. M. and Humphreys, E. R. 2014. Landscape-scale variability in soil organic carbon storage in the central Canadian Arctic. Can. J. Soil Sci. 94: 477–488. Arctic soils constitute a vast, but poorly quantified, pool of soil organic carbon (SOC). The uncertainty associated with pan-Arctic SOC storage estimates – a result of limited SOC and land cover data – needs to be reduced if we are to better predict the impact of future changes to Arctic carbon stocks resulting from climate warming. In this study landscape-scale variability in SOC at a Southern Arctic Ecozone site in the central Canadian Arctic was investigated with the ultimate goal of up-scaling SOC estimates with a land cover classification system. Total SOC was estimated to depths of 30 cm and 50 cm for 76 soil pits, together representing eight different vegetation communities in seven different broad landscape units. Soil organic carbon to 50 cm was lowest for the xerophytic herb community in the esker complex landscape un...