Most soils develop distinct soil architecture during pedogenesis and soil organic carbon (SOC) is sequestered within a hierarchical system of mineral-organic associations and aggregates. Permafrost soils store large amounts of carbon due to their permanently frozen subsoil and a lack of oxygen in the active layer, but they lack complex soil structure. With permafrost thaw more oxidative conditions and increasing soil temperature presumably enhance the build-up of more complex units of soil architecture and may counterbalance, at least partly, SOC mineralization. We aim to explore the development of mineral-organic associations and aggregates under different permafrost impact with respect to SOC stabilization. This information will be linked to environmental control factors relevant for SOC turnover at the pedon and stand scale to bridge processes occurring at the aggregate scale to larger spatial dimensions. We will combine in situ spectroscopic techniques with fractionation approaches and identify mechanisms relevant for SOC turnover at different scales by multivariate statistics and variogram analyses. From this we expect a deeper knowledge about soil architecture formation in the transition of permafrost soils to terrestrial soils and a scale-spanning mechanistic understanding of SOC cycling in permafrost regions.
Die Koordination der Waermeschutzforschung im Hochbau (KWH) hat fuenf Aufgaben: 1. Unterstuetzen von Forschern bei der Konzeption und Formulierung von neuen Forschungsprojekten im Rahmen eines Forschungsplanes. 2. Beurteilen von Gesuchen fuer den NEFF 3. Betreiben einer Energiebibliothek 4. Foerdern der Kommunikation zwischen Forschern, Architekten und Ingenieuren durch - nationale Seminare - Vortraege - persoenliche Beratung mit Architekten und Ingenieuren 5. Spezielle Projekte, wie z.B. - die Leitung des schweizerischen Teils des Projektes: 'Passive and Hybrid Solar Low Energy Buildings', (ein Aufgabenbereich der Internationalen Energie-Agentur) - Mitarbeit in Arbeitsgruppen der KNS.