Subproject of the Collaborative Research Centre SFB-TR 32 „Patterns in Soil-Vegetation-Atmosphere Systems: monitoring, modelling and data assimilation“

Funding: DFG (German Reseach Foundation, from 2007 to 2010)

Responsible researchers: L. Bornemann, G. Welp, W. Amelung

The specific environmental conditions adjacent to potentially mineralizable organic matter, control the CO2 production in soil. This study aims at identifying spatiotemporal patterns of different soil carbon pools and to relate them to patterns of soil characteristics (clay, iron oxide, etc.), to soil microclimate, and to CO2 evolution. For the assessment of these soil properties we will utilize mid-infrared spectroscopy. This technique has recently been suggested for characterizing soils in Australia and the US, and should thus also provide high potential for the minimum-invasive quantification of soil properties in Western Europe.