# Biomass Refined: 99% of Organic Carbon in Soils
## 1 Introduction
### Global Carbon Stocks and Net Primary Productivity (NPP) Cycle  
Herein, global estimates of biomass in terms of carbon stocks from cyclical turnover and processing of atmospheric CO\({}_{2}\) (i.e., NPP fixation and decay) are updated from summaries of annual carbon cycle sources and sinks on a global level provided by the Global Carbon Project (GCP: [[https://globalcarbonbudget.org/](https://globalcarbonbudget.org/)]([https://globalcarbonbudget.org/](https://globalcarbonbudget.org/)), accessed on 11 November 2024), their most recent published in December, 2023 (GCB 2023--[[https://essd.copernicus.org/articles/15/5301/2023/](https://essd.copernicus.org/articles/15/5301/2023/)]([https://essd.copernicus.org/articles/15/5301/2023/](https://essd.copernicus.org/articles/15/5301/2023/)), accessed on 11 November 2024) [40]. In addition, comparison is with UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group periodic Assessment Reports, the two most recent being WG1 AR5 [41] and AR6 [42]. Biogenic carbon is stored for varying periods in biomass before re-circulation via three main active reservoirs: Gasses in the Atmosphere, in solution (or debris) in the Ocean, or both gas and liquid but mainly solid matter in Soil, as summarized in Figure 6.  
Figure 4: Countering a common misconception that Ocean supports most biomass and abundance (=productivity and biodiversity) is a recent summary ([[https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/bioma](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/bioma)]([https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/bioma](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/bioma)) ss-vs-abundance-taxa, accessed on 11 November 2024; CC-BY). Terrestrial soil data presented are wide underestimations lacking both full depth and 3D area; however, those taxa inventoried from registers, such as humans or livestock (possibly birds), are not subject to similar areal gains. Annelid counts are terrestrial earthworms (not marine worms). Cridarians are mostly marine corals/jellies. Figure 5: Major global carbon stores [39] prior to current Biosphere and Soil carbon revisions. Lithosphere is the rocky mantle with calcitic or dolomitic rocks such as dolomite, limestone, chalk, or marble. Soil organic and inorganic carbon (SOC + SIC) total is \(\sim\)3000 Gt C, cf., the current study concluding >30,000 Gt C or \(\times\)10, approaching Oceans’ dissolved carbon (DOC + DIC) mostly eroded from soils or rocks. Should the 5000–10,000 Gt C in mainly terrestrial fossil fuel stocks (e.g., coal, oil, gas) be added, the Soil tally matches the Oceans’. Note: Pg C = Gt C.  
Global carbon stocks from latest [40] report are: Atmosphere--885 Gt C; Ocean--700 Gt C as dissolved organic carbon (also ~37,000 Gt in dissolved inorganic carbon that is mainly deep and inaccessible, inactive, and thus largely irrelevant); and Soil--3100 Gt C (they have as 1400 Gt C in Permafrost + 1700 Gt C in \"_Soils_\") as herein revised. For the Biosphere, they cite terrestrial Vegetation as 450 Gt C, vs. Marine biota just 3 Gt C (i.e., >99.3% vs. 0.6% of total living biomass), but these biomass data also require revision. Regarding primary productivity, it is notable that unrepresentatively narrow arrows for land flux indicate 130 Gt C/yr in gross primary production drawdown with a matching 130 Gt C/yr in total respiration/decomposition, mainly from soils. As explained later, this implies an NPP rate of (130/2 =) ~65 Gt C/yr. The further impression, that the ocean has a similar but lower exchange of 80 Gt C/yr (implying 40 Gt C/yr NPP? ), is not active photosynthesis nor respiration; rather, it is passive gas exchange governed by Henry's law (as shown explicitly in the AR5 and AR6 report Figures that follow shortly below). Soils are thus already \"officially\" demonstrated as the greatest organic carbon stock (>3000 Gt SOC) and both greatest sink and source of CO2 from respiration/decomposition mismatch of GPP at ~130 Gt C/yr, or an order of magnitude above ~10 Gt C/yr fossil fuel emissions.