Articles | Volume 19, issue 17
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-4147-2022
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-4147-2022
Research article
 | 
06 Sep 2022
Research article |  | 06 Sep 2022

The carbon budget of the managed grasslands of Great Britain – informed by earth observations

Vasileios Myrgiotis, Thomas Luke Smallman, and Mathew Williams

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Cited articles

Abdalla, M., Hastings, A., Chadwick, D. R., Jones, D. L., Evans, C. D., Jones, M. B., Rees, R. M., and Smith, P.: Critical review of the impacts of grazing intensity on soil organic carbon storage and other soil quality indicators in extensively managed grasslands, Agr. Ecosyst. Environ., 253, 62–81, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2017.10.023, 2018. a, b, c
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This study shows that livestock grazing and grass cutting can determine whether a grassland is adding (source) or removing (sink) carbon (C) to/from the atmosphere. The annual C balance of 1855 managed grassland fields in Great Britain was quantified for 2017–2018 using process modelling and earth observation data. The examined fields were, on average, small C sinks, but the summer drought of 2018 led to a 9-fold increase in the number of fields that became C sources in 2018 compared to 2017.
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