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An Approach for Estimating Soil Carbon Using the National Nutrient Loss Database

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Abstract

Agricultural lands have the potential to contribute to greenhouse gas mitigation by sequestering organic carbon within the soil. Credible and consistent estimates will be necessary to design programs and policies to encourage management practices that increase carbon sequestration. Because a nationwide survey of soil carbon by the wide range of natural resources and management conditions of the United States is prohibitively expensive, a simulation modeling approach must be used. The National Nutrient Loss Database (NNLD) is a modeling and database system designed and built jointly by the USDA– Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and Texas A&M University to provide science-based inferences on environmental impacts from changes in agricultural management practices and programs at the regional and national level. Currently, the NNLD simulates 16 crops and covers ∼ 1.35 × 108 ha. For estimating soil carbon sequestration, the database will be populated with ∼ 1.5 × 106 field-level model runs using the EPIC (Environmental Policy Impact Calculator) model, which includes newly incorporated carbon equations consistent with those in the Century model. Each run will represent a unique situation defined by state, crop, climate, soil, irrigation type, conservation practice, tillage system, and nutrient management treatment (nutrient rate, application frequency, application timing, and manure category). Results are to be assigned to specific National Resource Inventory points (NRI) to simulate regional and national baselines. In this article we present the modeling approach and discuss the strengths and limitations.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Todd Campbell with the Center for Agriculture and Rural Development, Iowa State University for his development of the i_EPIC software, and Theresa Pitts at Blackland Research and Extension Center, Texas Agricultural Experiment Station for her development of the RunBuilder software.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Blackland Research and Extension Center, Texas Agricultural Experiment Station Temple, Texas 76502, USA

    Steven R. Potter & Jimmy R. Williams

  2. USDA, Natural Resource Conservation Service Temple, Texas 76502, USA

    Jay D. Atwood

  3. USDA, Natural Resource Conservation Service, Washington, DC, USA

    Robert L. Kellogg

Authors
  1. Steven R. Potter
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  2. Jay D. Atwood
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  3. Robert L. Kellogg
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  4. Jimmy R. Williams
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Steven R. Potter.

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Potter, S., Atwood, J., Kellogg, R. et al. An Approach for Estimating Soil Carbon Using the National Nutrient Loss Database . Environmental Management 33, 496–506 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-003-9107-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-003-9107-4

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