Page 11 - Green knowledge 2024

Photo: Lars Sandved Dalen
Monitoring carbon in forest and grassland soils
NIBIO’s fieldworkers are recording carbon stock in forest and grassland soils across the
country.
Whilst trees store large amounts of carbon in their
roots, trunks and branches, soil is also a major reser-
voir of carbon in forests. Boreal forests, which cover
much of the Northern Hemisphere, store between
20% and 30% of all terrestrial carbon.
In Norway, scientists estimate that forest soil con-
tains approximately three times as much carbon as
the trees above ground. However, estimates of soil
carbon in Norwegian forests vary substantially
between studies. Moreover, there is no comprehen-
sive record of how soil carbon stock has changed
over time, leaving considerable uncertainty.
To address this uncertainty, efforts are now under-
way. In 2022, NIBIO was commissioned to launch a
nationwide monitoring programme for soil carbon in
forests and grasslands. The plan is to survey 3,000
forest sites and 300 grassland sites nationwide by
2033, with approximately 330 sites being visited
annually. The goal is to determine how much carbon
is stored in forest and grassland soils and how this
storage changes over time.
The monitoring sites are systematically distributed
along a grid across the country, ensuring statistically
representative sampling.
“This newly launched national soil carbon monitor-
ing programme will offer valuable insights into soil
carbon storage in Norwegian forests, contributing
significantly to Norway’s greenhouse gas account-
ing,” says NIBIO researcher Dr Shun Hasegawa.
The survey sites will be revisited every ten years to
detect changes in soil carbon stock over time. Thus,
the soil carbon monitoring programme will serve as
a foundation for further research on soil carbon
dynamics.
Purpose: Funding: Contact: To monitor soil carbon in forests and grasslands.
Ministry of Agriculture and Food
Research Scientist Shun Hasegawa, Division of Forests and Forest Resources.
Email: shun.hasegawa@nibio.no | Phone: +47 922 68 871
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