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Short Title: CAPP Project URL: http://igras.geonet.ru/cwg/projects.html#capp Proposal URL: http://classic.ipy.org/development/eoi/proposal-details.php?id=373 The International Permafrost Association Carbon Pools in Permafrost Regions (IPA CAPP) Project aims at quantifying, characterizing and modeling below-ground organic matter quantity and quality along ecoclimatic and edaphic gradients in high latitude and high altitude regions characterized by the presence of isolated to continuous permafrost. The CAPP Project coordinates its activities with other international programs such as the ESSP Global Carbon Project and the WCRP Climate and Cryosphere Project, and aims to develop an active network of scientists engaged in this type of research. In the initial stage the existing Northern Circumpolar Soil Carbon Database (NCSCD) of the IPA/IUSS Cryosol Working Group will be further developed, by adding new data and information on carbon in permafrost, non-permafrost and peat soils. The NCSCD will aim to incorporate already existing data from poorly represented regions (e.g. Russia), and also from lake sediments and deep ice- and carbon-rich Quaternary deposits. CAPP related research and monitoring carried out by project participants is currently restricted to a limited number of locations. Within this project the participants will contribute to and initiate new research activities at up to 10-12 high latitude transects in the northern hemisphere, complemented by 2 transects in the sub-Antarctic and Antarctic regions, and additional altitudinal transects in high alpine environments. CAPP is therefore linked closely with IPY projects ANTPAS (33), TSP (50) and ACCO-NET (90). The allocation of below-ground carbon in the landscape and quantity and quality among different permafrost settings will be investigated through intensive study sites along the transects. The organic matter will be analyzed using a hierarchy of increasingly sophisticated geochemical and absolute dating techniques. An important objective is to develop a carbon database that can be linked with remote sensing classifications at global to regional scales used in climate, biome and ecosystem models. Gained expert knowledge about soil carbon related processes will be used in process-based dynamic global vegetation models for a more reliable projection of the future terrestrial component of the global carbon balance and for model validation purposes. Results from CAPP will enable climate models to include one of the potentially most significant positive feedbacks in the global climate system. Protocols are developed for the carbon database, field sampling, physico-chemical analyses and upscaling exercises. CAPP activities will provide better understanding of total below-ground organic matter allocation and its susceptibility to decay. This will be used to evaluate the fate of this very significant carbon pool under global warming. High latitude terrestrial ecosystems are important reservoirs of soil organic matter. There is more carbon in these below-ground pools than in the living phytomass of all forests on Earth together. It is therefore important to communicate to the wider scientific community and general public the potential role of thawing permafrost carbon stocks in the Earth System.
CAPP