Global Soil Type Distribution Maps and Data

NASA Earthdata from SCIOPS provides maps and analysis products detailing the global percentage of land area covered by 12 major soil orders, including Alfisols, Aridisols, and Mollisols. The resource includes downloadable data files, Postscript map files, and explanatory text for interpretation. This collection was last updated in October 1998.

Use Cases

• Classify land area percentage for specific soil orders like Vertisols or Gelisols using the provided pipe-delimited data files.
• Integrate soil order distribution data with external GIS coverages to recreate or customize regional soil maps.
• Analyze correlations between soil types (e.g., Histosols, Oxisols) and other environmental or agricultural datasets for regional studies.

Strengths

• Covers 12 distinct soil orders defined by the USDA soil taxonomy system.
• Provides associated analysis explanations and state summary tables for context.

Limitations

• Data recency is a limitation, with the last update recorded in 1998.
• Summary tables and data files are noted as not being available for all maps.
• Specific row counts, column details, and geographic resolution are not provided in the description.

Provenance

Source

SCIOPS via NASA Earthdata

Collection Method

Analysis products derived from source data, format includes pipe-delimited ASCII text files and Postscript maps.

Freshness

1998-10-31

Geography

Global land area