Eddy covariance diverges from inventory and model-based estimates of soil organic carbon stock change across five  crop rotations in Belgian cropland

Beauclaire, Quentin; Longdoz, Bernard; Delhez, Laura; Winck, Bruna; Loubet, Benjamin; Zhou, Yue; Sabetizade, Marmar; Arquin, Neo; Saby, Nicolas; Heinesch, Bernard

doi:10.5194/bg-23-7345-2026

Articles | Volume 23, issue 20

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-7345-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-7345-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 23, issue 20

Research article

|

21 Oct 2026

Research article |

| 21 Oct 2026

Eddy covariance diverges from inventory and model-based estimates of soil organic carbon stock change across five crop rotations in Belgian cropland

Quentin Beauclaire, Bernard Longdoz, Laura Delhez, Bruna Winck, Benjamin Loubet, Yue Zhou, Marmar Sabetizade, Neo Arquin, Nicolas Saby, and Bernard Heinesch

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-7345-2026-supplement

Data sets

Fluxnet Archive Product from Lonzee B. Dumont et al. https://hdl.handle.net/11676/1u2xQ5XcQoX0j2wJiZcyDP3M

ETC L2 ARCHIVE from Lonzee B. Dumont et al. https://hdl.handle.net/11676/99gAK7xqcSkk7SRKDwZz1KJT

Model code and software

FreqCor A. Faurès and B. Heinesch https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22877082

REddyProc 1.3.3 T. Wutzler et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10572005

Download

Article (3369 KB)
Full-text XML

Short summary

We studied how soil organic carbon stocks changed over 21 years in a Belgian cropland by combining soil sampling, a soil carbon model, and measurements from a flux tower. The soil appeared mostly stable overall, but the flux-tower approach suggested much larger carbon losses than the other methods. Our results show that using several approaches together is important to better understand soil organic carbon changes and to identify farming practices that either build up or reduce soil carbon.