Global 0.5-Degree Grid Soil Properties from ISRIC-WISE Database

ISRIC-WISE provides a global dataset of derived soil properties on a 0.5-degree grid. It synthesizes data from over 4300 soil profiles collected primarily between 1950 and 1995, linked to the FAO-UNESCO Soil Map of the World. The dataset was edited by N. H. Batjes and published in 2000 through Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Use Cases

• Modeling global soil organic carbon stocks using columns for carbon density (0-30cm and 0-100cm depth ranges).
• Assessing agricultural water availability via the total available water capacity variable.
• Analyzing soil acidity and its impact on ecosystems using the soil pH columns for 0 30cm and 30 100cm depth ranges.
• Estimating inorganic carbon storage from the soil carbonate carbon density feature.
• Creating uniform global soil property maps by linking derived data to the 106 soil units in the FAO Soil Map.

Strengths

• Derived from a substantial foundation of over 4300 individual soil profiles.
• Provides uniform, comparable data for 106 global soil units defined by FAO-UNESCO.
• Offers multiple key variables including carbon density, pH, and water capacity at specified depths.

Limitations

• Primary source data is historical, collected mostly between 1950 and 1995.
• There is a conflict in reported last updated dates: datagov lists 2026-03-13, while nasa_earthdata lists 1995-12 31.
• Specific row counts and column details are not provided across the platforms.

Provenance

Source

ISRIC World Inventory of Soil Emission Potentials (WISE) database, edited by N. H. Batjes.

Collection Method

Data from soil profiles were used to generate uniform datasets for FAO soil units, which were then linked to a digital soil map to create GIS raster files.

Time Range

1950 to 1995

Freshness

2026-03-13

Geography

Global coverage based on the FAO-UNESCO Soil Map of the World.