Impact of extreme meteorological conditions on soil carbon turnover

BaCaTec

From 06/2005 to 12/2006

Staff: Werner Borken

Extreme weather conditions such as prolonged summer droughts and intensive frost periods are likely to increase during the next decades as a result of global warming. Such extreme weather conditions will be simulated in a long-term field experiment at the Fichtelgebirge, Bavaria, in order to study their implications on soil processes. Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) will be used to determine the radiocarbon content of soil, water and gas samples. Radiocarbon was released in large quantities into the atmosphere during thermonuclear weapons testing in the late 1950's and early 1960's and has become an effective tool to study the turnover of carbon in terrestrial ecosystems. The cooperation with Prof Trumbore from the University of California, Irvine, will allow us to establish a reduction line at the University of Bayreuth to produce graphite from soil, gas and water samples which are required for radiocarbon analysis using AMS.

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