Could biochar potentially be used to fix nutrients to sustain and increase C Storage in thawing - decompositioning soils?
Higher temperature and decompo- sition rates can also increase nutrient availability, which often has a greater effect on plant growth than temperature (Chapin and Shaver 1996). Decomposition of soil C (in- cluding thawed permafrost C) with concomitant nutrient release could actually increase total ecosystem C storage if low C:N soil organic matter is replaced by higher C:N plant biomass (Shaver et al. 2000). http://www.aibs.org/bioscience-press-releases/resources/Schuur.pdf

Soil amendment

Biochar can be used as a soil amendment to improve yield, improve water quality, reduce soil emissions of greenhouse gases, reduce nutrient leaching, reduce soil acidity, and reduce irrigation and fertilizer requirements http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biochar

Related Nitrous oxide emission reduction in temperate biochar-amended soil (2011)

Abstract
Biochar, a pyrolysis product of organic residues, is an amendment for agricultural soils to improve soil fertility, sequester CO2 and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
In highly weathered tropical soils laboratory incubations of soil-biochar mixtures revealed substantial reductions for nitrous oxide (N2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2 5 ).

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) are leading the way in learning more about "biochar," the charred biomass created from wood, other plant material, and manure. The studies by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists at laboratories across the country support the USDA priorities of promoting international food security and responding to global climate change. ARS is USDA's chief intramural scientific research agency.

A new generation of pioneers have struck proverbial gold at an abandoned silver mine near Aspen. What was once a wasteland of arsenic, cadmium, lead and zinc on a steep mountainside that abuts Castle Creek is now a haven for natural grasses and wildflowers that have stabilized the slope and drastically reduced the risk of the heavy metals crashing into the city’s main water supply.

The striking change of scenery around Hope Mine is the result of the first whole-scale reclamation project ever attempted in the United States, and possibly the world, using biochar — a type of charcoal produced through the thermal treatment of organic material in an oxygen-limited environment. We really were surprised how aggressive the regrowth was,” said John Bennett, executive director of For The Forest, which teamed up with Carbondale-based Flux Farm Foundation at the request of the U.S. Forest Service, which is exploring new ways to partner with private groups to reclaim landscapes. “We did not expect waist-high grass in the very first summer. We thought it would take longer.”

THE country's first commercial biochar plant, to turn green waste into energy and store carbon dioxide, will be built in Melbourne after State Energy Minister Michael O'Brien awarded a $4.5 million grant to Pacific Pyrolysis. PacPyro's ''carbon-negative electricity'' pilot-scale project will turn two tonnes of municipal organic and wood waste an hour into electricity and biochar and store as much as 50,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year.

HOUSTON, TX, Aug 29, 2011 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- PGI ENERGY, INC. (pinksheets:PGIE) announces reaffirmed financing commitment agreement with AGS Capital Group in its efforts to move the company onto the Frankfurt Stock Exchange as a bid to prevent short selling of the company's stock, which is prohibited in European markets.

AGS is committed to funding PGI after it moves to the Frankfurt exchange which the company hopes to accomplish by end of September. The company believes its move will increase visibility, transparency, and result in higher share value. The company IR firm Brass Financial will continue the IR marketing, because they also serve Frankfurt-listed companies. "This equity commitment will allow the company to acquire acquisition targets in the oil and gas industry and meet working capital demands as needed," according to the company's investment banker Robert Gandy with Pythagoras Group, who arranged the financing. Source Marketwatch

THE first steps towards commercial production of the carbon-fixing soil improver, biochar, have been made through a joint venture involving a NSW mixed farming enterprise and a Queensland energy equipment manufacturer.

The Larsson family’s Mara Seeds west of Casino on the North Coast, and Mackay-based BiG (Black is Green) will run trials using materials such as crop residues, timber plantation thinnings and green waste from councils to make biochar for application to crops such as soybeans, winter cereals and pastures.

Mara Seeds wants to establish the cost structures of biochar (charcoal) production, identifying inputs that work best and are readily available and whether large-scale production is economically viable.

Bristol, UK based process engineering specialist, DPS Global is to offer a compact waste treatment system that uses pyrolysis, gasification and high temperature oxidation to treat up to 150 kg of waste per hour.

According to the company, it is has a worldwide license to supply the ST150 compact waste processing plant, developed by waste to energy specialist, Ethos Energy working in partnership with research and technology company, QinetiQ - both UK based businesses.