Soil samples from arable land were investigated for their exchange of carbonyl sulfide (COS) with the atmosphere under controlled conditions using dynamic cuvettes in a climate chamber. The investigated soil type acted as a significant sink for the trace gas COS. Atmospheric COS mixing ratios, temperature, and soil water content were found to be the physicochemical parameters controlling the uptake. Emission was never observed under conditions representative of a natural environment. The observed compensation point (i.e., an ambient concentration where the consumption and production balance each other and the net flux is zero) for the uptake was about 53 parts per trillion. Uptake rates ranged between 1.5 and 10.3 pmol m-2 s-1. The consumption of COS by the soil sample depended on the physiological activity of the microorganisms in the soil, as indicated by a clear optimum temperature and by a drastic inhibition in the presence of the enzyme inhibitor 6-ethoxy-2-benzothiazole-2-sulfonamide (EZ), a specific inhibitor for carbonic anhydrase. ¿ 1999 American Geophysical Union