Keywords:
soil
;
pedology
;
Northern Circumpolar Region
Description / Table of Contents:
In a clear style, the atlas describes the origin and major characteristics of the different soil types that can be found in this environment. The atlas discusses the possible impacts of climate change on permafrost-affected soils and explains the critical role that they play in the global climate and global carbon cycles. 6. For the first time ever, the distribution of soil types for the entire northern circumpolar region can be visualised in a comprehensible manner by the lay-person. Information on the major soil types is presented in detail on twenty six map plates (the atlas has an A3 page size giving a dramatic A2 spread for maps). In a novel exercise, the World Reference Base for Soil Resources has been used as a framework for correlating knowledge from diverse national soil classification systems into a single, coherent, inter-continental product.
The atlas illustrates the diversity of soil in the permafrost and seasonally frozen environments through a series of maps supported by explanatory and easily readable texts, high quality photographs and descriptive graphics. The atlas presents the reader with a series of maps that show the variation of soil properties in a circumpolar context and from a polar perspective, allowing comparisons to be made across international boundaries. In addition, larger scale maps show the distribution of major soil types by regions with descriptions of the major issues. The maps have been produced through the elaboration of harmonized soil databases for the northern circumpolar areas by Geographic Information Systems software (GIS).Through supporting texts, the atlas describes the major soil types found in northern latitudes, together with their principal properties and characteristics, the main soil forming processes, the importance of soil classification and the use of soil.
Special attention is given to impact of cold climates on soil characteristics and on the relationship between climate change and soils properties (e.g. carbon dynamics, carbon sinks and sources, methane emission). In addition, the atlas illustrates how soil can be used as indicators of past climate change and present examples local and regional perspectives of the importance and functions of soil for society as a whole and particularly for indigenous northern cultures.
Pages:
Online-Ressource (142 Seiten)
ISBN:
9789279097706
URL:
http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/library/maps/Circumpolar/
Language:
English
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