Applications
SensorC is developing one in-field measurement platform for repeated, ground-based soil signals, with applications across agriculture and environmental monitoring. Carbon and nitrogen are the first signals being developed within that platform.
01 / FUNCTIONAL CARBON
Measuring carbon flows, not only stocks, is how soil function becomes visible in time to act on it.
Photo: Yurij Drovnin
Why measure soil carbon?
Soil carbon supports structure, water and nutrient cycling, biological activity and long-term productivity. It is commonly measured as a stock within a defined soil volume and depth, providing baselines and trends for policy, natural capital markets and national climate targets.
The carbon cycle below ground
Hidden within that carbon stock measurement are faster-moving pools of carbon that respond to water, nutrients, weather, plants and microbes. This carbon flow is the lifeblood of soil productivity.
How to measure functional soil carbon?
Soil carbon stocks are not designed to measure and account for soil function. Carbon stocks change slowly relative to the many active soil processes that can be measured and managed by landholders.
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…it may be the dynamic soil organic carbon pools with high potential rates of turnover that best offer resilience to ecosystems in the face of coming disturbances.
Why manage dynamic carbon pools?
Dissolved organic carbon is a mobile and biologically responsive fraction of soil organic carbon. It is exchanged among roots, microbes and the soil solution, and can change before a difference becomes detectable in the total carbon stock. Repeated measurement could provide earlier evidence of response to land management than stock measurements alone.
What is SensorC developing?
SensorC is developing an engineered electrochemical sensor to detect carbon signals in the moisture around soil particles, at the interface where roots, microbes and nutrients interact.
How should the signal be used?
Periodic field sampling and laboratory analysis remain essential for establishing baselines and reporting against recognised carbon frameworks. SensorC is being developed to add repeated in-field observations between sampling events and provide ground-based context for spatial monitoring systems.
02 / NITROGEN
Nitrogen is the fundamental nutrient for growth and the one most easily lost between sampling events.
~190 Mt N
Applied to global croplands
~100 Mt N
Recovered by crops
52%
Global nitrogen-use efficiency
USD $75B+
Annual opportunity cost
What is soil nitrogen?
Productive soils require nitrogen in mineral or ‘plant-available’ forms such as nitrate or ammonium. Available nitrogen pools are increased by fertiliser inputs, atmospheric nitrogen fixation by legumes, or decomposing organic residues.
Photo: Antonio Duarte
The nitrogen opportunity
Global croplands receive approximately 190 Mt of nitrogen, but only 100 Mt is recovered by crops, a global nitrogen-use efficiency of roughly 52% (Ludemann et al., 2024). A 90 Mt nitrogen surplus is equivalent to nearly 196 Mt of urea, an opportunity cost worth over USD $75 billion.
The nitrogen cycle in soil
Available nitrogen pools in soil can change within hours, through plant uptake, microbial activity, leaching, and loss to the atmosphere. The challenge is knowing when this happens and how to respond.
Why measure nitrogen continuously?
SensorC is developing continuous in-field measurement of available nitrogen. The aim is to show how nitrogen changes through the season and provide additional evidence for field trials and future agronomic decisions.
03 / From signals to decisions
More frequent in-field measurement can show how soil conditions change between periodic samples and before final outcomes are known. This gives land and system managers more evidence to investigate change, assess an intervention and decide what to do next.
Fertiliser and soil management decisions are typically informed by episodic soil tests, broad budgets and seasonal assumptions. This makes it difficult to see how soil nitrogen and functional carbon respond through time or to assess the effect of management decisions as the season unfolds.
“The largest difficulty with N fertiliser management is the capacity to match N supply to crop demand.”
How the system fits together
Environmental monitoring
Repeated ground-based observations can strengthen the evidence available to environmental monitoring, rehabilitation and recovery programs. SensorC is being developed to add temporal soil measurements between laboratory sampling events and alongside spatial monitoring.
Agriculture
SensorC is being developed to provide repeated in-field nitrogen and functional-carbon signals for field trials, research and future agronomic decision-making. The platform is intended to complement laboratory analysis rather than replace it.
