Dear Carbon Cycling Scientists: We would like to call your attention to a soil carbon session sponsored by the Biogeosciences Section at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) meeting in San Francisco, CA, this winter, December 14-19, 2008.
Session number: B21 "Toward Large Scale Assessments of Soil Carbon Turnover and Vulnerability: Measures, Models, and Networks" Description: Soil is a crucial natural resource and soil carbon is an integral component of soil structure and function. Although the global stock of soil carbon is immense, it is not static: about 120 Pg of carbon moves annually between soil and the atmosphere and vegetation. Soil carbon may thus play a singular but uncertain role in climate forcing during the coming decades, with significant net losses contributing to positive feedbacks, or significant sequestration helping to mitigate climate forcing. The loss of soil carbon or disruption of its cycling may also impair the ecosystem services it provides, with consequent negative impacts on society. Given the critical role that soil carbon plays in the climate cycle and ecosystems services globally, there is a strong need to conduct large scale, spatially explicit assessments of soil carbon turnover and vulnerability. Recent advances in measurement technologies, statistical applications, modeling approaches, and geographic information systems have made it possible to develop stand-to-landscape scale information in support of carbon sequestration decisions by both land managers and policy makers. This session invites researchers to discuss measurement, modeling, and networking of soil carbon turnover and vulnerability studies. Abstracts due: 10 September 2008, 2359 UT (Universal Time). Abstract instructions: http://submissions3.agu.org/submission/subm-ins.htm Abstract submissions: http://submissions3.agu.org/submission/entrance.asp Please contact one of us if you have any questions. Regards, Mark Waldrop, United States Geological Survey Chris Swanston, United States Forest Service Julie Jastrow, Argonne National Labs
