Rachael Murphy
Research Officer in Measuring and Modelling Carbon Emissions and Sequestration
Rachael Murphy is a research officer in Teagasc Johnstown Castle and the Teagasc Climate Centre. Her principal role involves over-seeing the management and data of the National Agricultural Soil Carbon Observatory. Her research expertise is in measuring greenhouse gases on agricultural soils at different temporal and spatial scales with a specialization in using the eddy covariance technique.
Counting Carbon On Mineral Soils
Introduction
Measuring carbon sequestration on mineral soils at national level represents a challenge. The annual changes in carbon stocks are subject to yearly variations, making it even more difficult to detect and quantify the exact amounts of carbon sequestered or lost each year from different farming systems. To address these issues and
develop a coherent solution for carbon accounting at national level, in Ireland we have built a roadmap to measure carbon sequestration which takes into account different scales of approach and methodologies. This requires the use of advanced tools that can track both short-term carbon emissions and long-term carbon
storage.
NASCO and Signpost Programme
The National Agricultural Soil Carbon Observatory (NASCO) and the Signpost Programme are coherently combining knowledge, infrastructures and tools to establish Irish specific emission factors for soil carbon sequestration for inclusion in the national inventory. Through these projects Ireland is developing the largest infrastructure in Europe to measure and report emissions and calculate C stored in the soil and biomass. We are at the initial stages of combining these datasets, and this integration will be expanded in the future to explore scenarios of carbon sinks and sources in Irish agriculture, moving towards a Tier 2 and Tier 3 approach rather than the current Tier 1. Integrating the datasets developed will allows us to create a comprehensive carbon budget for Ireland that captures both dynamic fluxes and stable storage. The advanced techniques and tools used will improve our ability to quantify carbon sequestration, helping soils act as more effective
carbon sinks and contributing to climate change mitigation.
Eddy covariance towers
NASCO comprises of a network of eddy covariance towers that directly measure the rate of CO2 exchange between the atmosphere and terrestrial ecosystems, providing real-time data on the rates of carbon sequestration and release. This information is crucial for understanding the dynamic processes of carbon uptake and loss at the field level.
The soil campaign from the Signpost Programme effectively addresses spatial variability with standardised and scientifically sound sampling techniques for a more detailed and accurate assessment of C stocks as national baseline of soil C in Irish farming systems.
Read the full paper Counting carbon on mineral soils (pdf)