HR: 1330h
AN: H43B-03    [Abstracts]
TI: Scales and Uncertainties in Estimating Soil Carbon with STATSGO Database for Louisiana
AU: * Wang, F
EM: fwang5@lsu.edu
AF: Louisiana State University, School of Renewable Natural Resources Renewable Natural Resources Bldg., Baton Rouge, LA 70803 United States
AU: Xu, Y
EM: yjxu@lsu.edu
AF: Louisiana State University, School of Renewable Natural Resources Renewable Natural Resources Bldg., Baton Rouge, LA 70803 United States
AU: Zhong, B
EM: bzhong1@lsu.edu
AF: Louisiana State University, School of Renewable Natural Resources Renewable Natural Resources Bldg., Baton Rouge, LA 70803 United States
AB: The State Soil Geographic (STATSGO) database has been used in estimating soil carbon storage at regional and national scales. However, due to its coarse resolution (1:250,000), uncertainty is a problem that has been addressed by researchers when the database is applied at a finer scale. The Soil Survey Geographic (SSURGO) database at a scale of 1:24,000 apparently provides a better alternative, but the spatial data is unavailable for many areas across the nation. The primary goal of this study is to develop pedotransfer functions for Louisiana's carbon assessment using these two databases. The specific objectives of the study are to (1) compare soil carbon estimates between STATSGO and SSURGO spatially and statistically; (2) assess the uncertainty in carbon estimates by STATSGO particularly on hydric soils; and (3) identify attributes that are important for model prediction. The assessment on soil carbon at the depths from 0 to 25 and to 100 cm was conducted for Lincoln and West Baton Rouge Parishes. The compared soil attributes included a series of physical, chemical, and hydraulic properties. The results showed that not only did the two databases produce different soil carbon estimates based on their data attributes, but also the difference in estimates varied spatially across the landscape. The study demonstrated that GIS applications can be critical for improving accuracy of terrestrial carbon assessment.
DE: 4806 Carbon cycling
DE: 4825 Geochemistry
SC: Hydrology [H]
MN: 2005 Joint Assembly