Chinese researchers issue organic carbon map for global black soil regions

BEIJING, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- A group of Chinese researchers issued a data map of the soil organic carbon (SOC) content for global black soil regions, shedding light on the quantification of agro-ecosystems and global food security, according to the recent issue of the journal Remote Sensing of Environment.

Research has shown that carbon cycle is influenced by agricultural soils. The accurately mapping of SOC content can help to clarify the carbon sequestration capacity, quantify agroecosystem and contribute to global food security. But it is still challenging to acquire reliable SOC content datasets.

The study published in the journal was done by researchers from the Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences. According to the journal the researchers collected more than 191,000 scenes of remote sensing images and elevation model data, and used meta-learning convolutional neural network model to generate high-resolution data map for global black soil regions.

The data in the study indicates that the SOC content in the global black soil regions shows a decreasing trend, which can be divided into significant decrease phase from 1984 to 2000, and moderate decrease phase from 2001 to 2021.

The result from the study also shows that the four major black soil regions in the world have different rates of SOC decline. The SOC decline rates of the Russian-Ukrainian Plain and the Pampas Plain of South America are higher than those of the northeast China and the Mississippi River Basin in North America.

The study shows that this research can provide a reference for the long-term observation of soil and crop properties at moderate and high resolutions globally.