Guatemala soil organic carbon database (GTMSOC)

Abstract

AbstractStudies on soil organic carbon stocks (SOCS) are increasingly relevant to developing efficient mitigation and adaptation strategies for climate change. Reliable information on soil organic carbon (SOC) content, bulk density (BD), and coarse fragments (CF) are required for precise SOCS calculation. The data quality of SOCS‐related variables is important to represent SOCS realistically across different levels of disturbance in the terrestrial ecosystems of Guatemala. The main objective is to develop Guatemala's first national SOC database to support studies of SOCS magnitudes and spatial trends. We identified and collected national sources of variables related to SOCS (SOC, BD, CF) across the country, mainly distributed in the central zone dominated by disturbed ecosystems and agricultural territories. We integrated 910 observations (soil samples and soil profiles) of SOC content (range 1.45–162 g·kg−1), 704 of BD (range 0.42–1.69 g·cm−3), and 8 of CFs (0%–21% weight). This new database represents the edaphic, climatic, and land use variability of Guatemalan territory. The database contains soil observations collected from 1965 to 2010. The year 2010 has the majority of soil observations (41%). SOCS‐related variables are standardized at 0–30 centimetres of depth using mass conservative splines, which are used to represent SOCS and soil depth relationships. We provide new information on SOCS across various ecological and environmental conditions to enable SOC monitoring systems to report reliable and accurate estimates. The new database is appealing for scientific and commercial purposes, such as representing Guatemalan soils in Earth system models or using soil information in the ecosystem services market (e.g., carbon markets). The new database is accessible to all users through the platform of the Environmental Data Initiative https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/8dd15238c604c3ac75daf985548bd05c.