Method of quantifying soil carbon

• Main Authors: De Gruijter, Jaap, McBratney, Alex, Minasny, Budiman, Mulvey, Philip James
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 25.06.2024
• Subjects: CALCULATING; COMPUTING; COUNTING; DATA PROCESSING SYSTEMS OR METHODS, SPECIALLY ADAPTED FORADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL, SUPERVISORYOR FORECASTING PURPOSES; INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTEDFOR SPECIFIC APPLICATION FIELDS; INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIRCHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES; MEASURING; PHYSICS; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE,COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL, SUPERVISORY OR FORECASTINGPURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; TESTING

One aspect of the present disclosure relates to a method of quantifying soil carbon in a unit of land. The method generally comprises the steps of (i) obtaining an estimated spatial distribution of carbon content in the unit of land, (ii) stratifying the unit of land into a plurality of strata based at least partly on the spatial distribution of carbon content, (iii) selecting one or more locations from each of one or more of the plurality of strata, the one or more locations being selected with randomness, (iv) determining sample carbon content associated with the one or more first locations and (v) determining total carbon content in the unit of land based at least partly on the sample carbon content. In another aspect, this method may be used to quantify soil carbon sequestered in a unit of land by repeating steps (iv) and (v) at a second time and thereafter determining the amount of carbon sequestered. Furthermore, in quantifying the soil carbon sequestered, steps (ii) and (iii) may also be repeated at the second time after re-stratification of the unit of land based on sample carbon determined at the first time.