ABSTRACT
Climate models have predicted wanning climate with relatively large temperature increases for the northern latitudes. Over the past decade, a warming has been observed over parts of the arctic region (Oechel et al., 1993). Efforts are under way to develop models predicting the function and response of the terrestrial arctic ecosystem as it will feed back to the atmosphere under changing conditions. Developing models requires more accurate and detailed knowledge of terrestrial C-stocks in the Arctic. It is estimated that arctic ecosystems contain 13% of all terrestrial carbon (Post et al., 1982). These estimates are based on the carbon in the active layer of arctic soils. More recent detailed examination of region soils have recognized that stock estimates for many arctic soils are doubled when considering the whole pedon including the upper permafrost (Michaelson et al., 1996 and Bockbeim et al., 1998).
