Abstract. Arctic soils store large amounts of organic carbon and
other elements, such as amorphous silicon, silicon, calcium, iron, aluminum,
and phosphorous. Global warming is projected to be most pronounced in the
Arctic, leading to thawing permafrost which, in turn, changes the soil
element availability. To project how biogeochemical cycling in Arctic
ecosystems will be affected by climate change, there is a need for data on
element availability. Here, we analyzed the amorphous silicon (ASi) content
as a solid fraction of the soils as well as Mehlich III extractions for the
bioavailability of silicon (Si), calcium (Ca), iron (Fe), phosphorus (P),
and aluminum (Al) from 574 soil samples from the circumpolar Arctic region.
We show large differences in the ASi fraction and in Si, Ca, Fe, Al, and P
availability among different lithologies and Arctic regions. We summarize
these data in pan-Arctic maps of the ASi fraction and available Si, Ca, Fe, P,
and Al concentrations, focusing on the top 100 cm of Arctic soil.
Furthermore, we provide element availability values for the organic and
mineral layers of the seasonally thawing active layer as well as for the
uppermost permafrost layer. Our spatially explicit data on differences in
the availability of elements between the different lithological classes and
regions now and in the future will improve Arctic Earth system models for
estimating current and future carbon and nutrient feedbacks under climate
change (https://doi.org/10.17617/3.8KGQUN, Schaller and Goeckede, 2022).