Synergism between digital soil mapping and soil carbon modeling: Changes at Regional/National Scales

• Grant number: 25/00502-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: March 01, 2025
• End date: February 28, 2027
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy - Soil Science
• Principal Investigator: Carlos Eduardo Pellegrino Cerri
• Grantee: Matheus Carraco Cardoso
• Host Institution: Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALQ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 21/10573-4 - Center for Carbon Research in Tropical Agriculture (CCARBON), AP.CEPID

Abstract

Soil has demonstrated its capacity to provide goods and benefits for humanity. However, unsustainable management followed by the low importance given to soils is promoting their accelerated degradation, compromising the provision of key ecosystem services. Among the various functions is soil carbon sequestration (SOC-seq). The carbon stock in soils is more than twice that found in the atmosphere and vegetation, and is considered the largest carbon pool on our planet. The stored carbon is a product of the mineralization of organic carbon and, therefore, contributes to the reduction of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. At present, the SOC-seq potential of the world's existing croplands is not known. Some pathways were already shown by Padarian et al., 2021, but a better understanding of the phenomena occurring in the soil is needed, as he lets us know in his response letter Baveye, 2021 to the above mentioned work. Therefore, the objectives of this work are to evaluate the synergy between the DayCent model and Remote Sensing (RS) and Digital Soil Mapping (DSM) techniques for the spatial/temporal understanding of the SOC-seq potential of Brazilian agricultural areas. Robust datasets obtained through RS and DSM techniques will be used for the creation of maps. A validation with real field data and legacy maps of the study area will be performed. It is expected that the results of this research will contribute to better soil management. All the results of this research will be disseminated in different media and made available as products for the community.