Boise Foothills Organic Carbon Stocks (Raw data)

Note: This is the raw GeoTiff file for analysis. For easy visualization, see the Boise Foothills Organic Carbon Stocks tile layer. This dataset provides estimates of soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks, representing the amount of carbon stored in the soil. These estimates were generated using the MIcrobial-Mineral Carbon Stabilization (MIMICS) model (Wieder et al. 2015), which simulates how carbon cycles through the soil ecosystem. The model was supplied with spatial data on four key environmental factors: annual plant growth (net primary productivity), soil temperature, soil clay content, and the quality of decomposing plant litter (lignin:N). The specific methodology is described in Pierson et al. (2022). The estimates in this dataset are the output of a process-based model and are not direct field measurements. The model's structure, assumptions, and the methodology used to generate these results are detailed in the following publications. If you use this data, please cite: Pierson, D., Lohse, K. A., Wieder, W. R., Patton, N. R., Facer, J., de Graaff, M. A., ... & Will, R. (2022). Optimizing process-based models to predict current and future soil organic carbon stocks at high-resolution. Scientific Reports, 12(1), 10824. Wieder, W. R., Grandy, A. S., Kallenbach, C. M., Taylor, P. G., & Bonan, G. B. (2015). Representing life in the Earth system with soil microbial functional traits in the MIMICS model. Geoscientific Model Development, 8(6), 1789-1808. The MIMICS model was driven by several publicly available input datasets. The primary sources for the model inputs include: Annual Net Primary Productivity derived from Landsat 8 multispectral imagery, soil temperature derived from USGS digital elevation models, soil clay content from SSURGO, and literature-based estimates of litter quality. See Pierson et al. for citation details. Users should be fully aware of the following conditions and limitations before interpreting or applying this data. Intended Use: This dataset is designed for regional-scale assessments, landscape-level planning, educational purposes, and identifying broad spatial patterns in soil carbon. It is not suitable for making property-level or farm-scale management decisions. These values are model-derived estimates, not direct field measurements. They are subject to the inherent assumptions and simplifications of the MIMICS model. All model outputs contain uncertainty. The accuracy of these estimates is dependent on the quality of the input data and the model's representation of real-world biogeochemical processes. The data should be interpreted as a likely estimate, not an exact value. The resolution of this dataset is 30 meters. The data should not be used for analysis or decision-making at a finer spatial resolution than it was created for.