ResearchandDevelopment-Defra,UK.docVIP

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs CSG 15 Research and Development Final Project Report (Not to be used for LINK projects) Two hard copies of this form should be returned to: Research Policy and International Division, Final Reports Unit DEFRA, Area 301 Cromwell House, Dean Stanley Street, London, SW1P 3JH. An electronic version should be e-mailed to resreports@defra.gsi.gov.uk Project title UK soil database for modelling soil carbon fluxes and land use for the national carbon dioxide inventory DEFRA project code SP0511 Contractor organisation and location National Soils Resources Institute Cranfield University Total DEFRA project costs ￡ 91,000 Project start date 01/11/00 Project end date 31/03/03 Executive summary (maximum 2 sides A4)To tab in this section press the tab key and the Control key togetherPress the DOWN arrow once to move to the next question.  There is no reliable inventory of soil organic carbon for the UK as required by the Kyoto Protocol. The aim of this project was to produce such a database for UK topsoils and subsoils to an agreed set of protocols and compatible with GIS and numerical modelling requirements. Protocols have been agreed between the collaborators and with modellers at Rothamsted Research leading to the compilation of a profile-based core dataset. The derived database gives the organic carbon, sand, silt and clay and bulk density weighted to reference layers from 0 to 30 and from 30 to 100 cm depth. The data will be used initially by Rothamsted Research to model carbon change from a baseline of 1990 to 2050. They will also be made available under licence to the UK research community. The database should not be an end in itself, its value lies in the way it is used to help understand carbon dynamics in the UK. The project has demonstrated how the national soil institutes can collaborate together to create a unified UK database to agreed protocols. It augers well for future col