Welcome to Winter Soil Processes

In cold climate regions, increased winter temperatures caused by climate warming may expose soils to colder temperatures due to loss of the insulating snowpack, increase soil moisture content, and lead to a greater frequency of freeze-thaw events. These factors affect the pore waters present beneath the Earth's surface and their associated hydrological and biogeochemical functions and lead to colder soils in a warming world.

Identifying the biogeochemical drivers such as energy and nutrient delivery on winter microbial community composition, functions and dynamics is critical to establishing a mechanistic understanding of winter biogeochemical cycles.

Future climate uncertainties highlight the need to develop and couple cutting edge-experimental approaches to biogeochemical-hydrological models to identify and predict the major controls on subsurface biogeochemical processes and the associated metabolic potential during the non-growing season.