Dr Saeed Karbin

Research Overview

My research examines the biogeochemistry of greenhouse gases in soils and possible mitigation strategies. I have worked extensively on measuring and modelling fluxes of carbon dioxide, methane, and hydrogen across soil-atmosphere interfaces in agricultural, grassland, and forest ecosystems. This work has spanned several countries and engaged diverse stakeholders including different national and international research institutions and NGOs such as Aga Khan Foundation and FAO.

Currently, I am developing process-based models to estimate the global soil uptake and release of hydrogen gas by soils. This project accounts for the biological and physical factors influencing hydrogen dynamics in soils, including diffusion, microbial oxidation, and release from nitrogen fixation. The goal is to produce a model suitable for linking soil hydrogen processes to atmospheric chemistry and climate. Quantifying these dynamics is crucial, as the use of hydrogen as a clean fuel relies on minimizing leakage and indirect warming effects.

Overall, my aim is to provide solutions for sustainable soil management that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve soil health. My research contributes quantitative understanding needed to predict climate feedbacks and inform mitigation strategies.

Current Research

My present research centers on a building process-based model to estimate the global flux of hydrogen gas exchanged between soils and the atmosphere. Robustly modeling changes in tropospheric hydrogen requires representing the chemistry regulating airborne hydrogen concentrations along with its interactions with terrestrial sources and sinks. Using hydrogen as a clean substitute for fossil fuels would provide climate benefits by avoiding carbon dioxide emissions. However, any hydrogen leakage could indirectly warm the climate by altering atmospheric composition.

I am developing a model to estimate hydrogen uptake and release from soils on global scales over multi-decadal timeframes. This model incorporates the biological drivers of soil hydrogen cycling, including diffusion into soil profiles, microbial oxidation, and production during nitrogen fixation. By linking these process representations to atmospheric chemistry and transport, the goal is to predict how variability in soil hydrogen fluxes may feedback to climate under different scenarios. The model builds on established approaches for simulating soil organic matter coupled with empirical moisture and temperature responses. Overall, this work will quantify an important yet uncertain component of the terrestrial hydrogen budget.

Past Research

My previous works focused on sustainable soil management, measuring soil-atmosphere GHG fluxes and modelling soil organic carbon in different countries like Iran, Switzerland, India and Tajikistan with different national and international research institutions and NGOs such as Aga Khan Foundation and FAO.