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This SOils DAta Harmonization (SoDaH) database is designed to bring together soil carbon data from diverse research networks into a harmonized dataset that can be used for synthesis activities and model development. The research network sources for SoDaH span different biomes and climates, encompass multiple ecosystem types, and have collected data across a range of spatial, temporal, and depth gradients. The rich data sets assembled in SoDaH consist of observations from monitoring efforts and long-term ecological experiments. The SoDaH database also incorporates related environmental covariate data pertaining to climate, vegetation, soil chemistry, and soil physical properties. The data are harmonized and aggregated using open-source code that enables a scripted, repeatable approach for soil data synthesis.
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This content will become publicly available on January 1, 2027
The International Soil Radiocarbon Database (ISRaD) version 2: synthesis, data gaps, and future directions of soil radiocarbon data
Abstract. Soil radiocarbon (14C) measurements are crucial for understanding soil carbon cycling over timescales ranging from years to millennia. However, the global synthesis and comparison of radiocarbon data have been limited due to the variety of measurement methodologies and data formats. The International Soil Radiocarbon Database (ISRaD) is an open-access, community-driven archive designed to compile soil radiocarbon data and facilitate large-scale research on soil carbon dynamics. Here, we present ISRaD version 2 (v2), which has grown significantly since its initial release in 2020 (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17860507, Beem-Miller et al., 2025). It now contains data from 515 unique studies spanning 1669 sites globally, with over 20 000 radiocarbon observations across multiple hierarchical levels, including bulk soil layers, soil fractions, laboratory incubations, interstitial carbon in soil pores, and in situ fluxes of CO2 and CH4. Major updates include expanded metadata structures to capture emerging measurement techniques and an improved soil fractionation template to better capture diverse methods. There has also been a substantial increase in data from underrepresented ecosystems, including cultivated soils and wetlands. Despite this growth, significant geographic and data-type gaps persist. Tropical and arid regions, soils deeper than 100 cm, and certain types of measurements, including incubation, interstitial, and flux, are severely undersampled. We discuss the scientific advances enabled by ISRaD v1 and the major updates to the database and data representation. We also explore future opportunities for ISRaD and the soil radiocarbon community. ISRaD v2 continues to serve as a living archive and dynamic platform for the soil radiocarbon research community. It supports synthesis efforts that are critical for predicting how soil carbon will respond to environmental and climatic changes.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2422257
- PAR ID:
- 10708789
- Author(s) / Creator(s):
- ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; more »
- Publisher / Repository:
- Earth System Science Data
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Earth System Science Data
- Volume:
- 18
- Issue:
- 8
- ISSN:
- 1866-3516
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 5793 to 5815
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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