Welcome to Xia’s Soil Systems Research Group!
The Soil Systems Lab at Columbia University
The Soil Systems Lab at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) aims to leverage process and empirical modeling tools with multi-scale data sources, including field and lab measurements, survey and literature data, and remote sensing images, to monitor soil organic carbon, greenhouse gas emissions, and ecosystem productivity across various spatial scales. Our research team will primarily focus on natural climate solutions by investigating the influence of climate, land use change, and management practices on soil health and the associated ecosystem service outcomes in the terrestrial ecosystem. The overarching goal of our research group is to tackle challenges related to environmental sustainability, climate change, and food security.
Natural climate solutions
Soil Ecology/ Agroecology
Carbon management and carbon sequestration
Greenhouse gas emissions
Soil biogeochemistry
Nitrogen cycling
Soil health assessment
Rangeland management
Conservation practices (e.g., cover cropping, organic farming)
Soil fertility and fertilizer inputs
Soil moisture/ Hydrological processes
Strategic sampling design
Research themes
Field sampling
Lab measurements
Process-based modeling/ Ecosystem modeling
Digital soil mapping
Applied spectroscopy
Remote sensing applications in agricultural and environmental research
Machine learning/ Artificial Intelligence
High-performance computing
Meta-analysis/ Data mining
Decision support tools
Environmental informatics