Radiocarbon in CO2 and Soil Organic Matter from Laboratory Incubations, Utqiagvik (Barrow)

Delta14C measurements from laboratory soil incubations of active layer soils collected in Utqiagvik, Alaska. The dataset includes CO2 production rates and carbon and nitrogen concentrations from samples taken across high-centered, flat-centered, and low-centered polygons. This data was produced by the Next-Generation Ecosystem Experiments: Arctic (NGEE Arctic), a 10-year Department of Energy research effort (2012-2022) to improve Earth System Models.

Use Cases

• Modeling soil carbon decomposition rates based on CO2 production measurements.
• Studying permafrost carbon feedbacks to climate based on radiocarbon (Delta14C) data.
• Analyzing spatial variability in soil carbon and nitrogen concentrations across polygonal tundra features.
• Calibrating Earth System Model components for Arctic ecosystems using process-level incubation data.

Strengths

• Data is part of a 10-year (2012-2022) Department of Energy research program (NGEE Arctic) aimed at model improvement.
• Samples were collected from specified positions across distinct polygonal tundra features (high-centered, flat-centered, low-centered).
• Includes multiple related measurements: Delta14C, CO2 production rates, and carbon and nitrogen concentrations.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

Next-Generation Ecosystem Experiments: Arctic (NGEE Arctic), supported by the Department of Energy’s Office of Biological and Environmental Research.

Collection Method

Laboratory incubations of active layer soils collected from field sites.

Time Range

2012

Freshness

Data collection year is 2012; last update status is unknown.

Geography

Utqiagvik (Barrow), Alaska, specifically the Barrow Environmental Observatory (BEO) and North Slope.