Global Soil Phosphorus Distribution Maps at 0.5-Degree Resolution

NASA's Global Gridded Soil Phosphorus Distribution Maps provide estimates of different forms of naturally occurring soil phosphorus at a 0.5-degree resolution. The data represent a pre-industrial baseline, nominally for the period around 1850, and include total phosphorus along with labile inorganic, organic, occluded, secondary mineral, and apatite forms. This dataset is designed to support global biogeochemistry models by providing initial estimates of soil phosphorus available for plant and microbial uptake.

Use Cases

• Initializing phosphorus limitation parameters in global terrestrial ecosystem models based on the gridded estimates of labile and organic phosphorus.
• Studying pre-industrial soil nutrient baselines for comparison with modern, anthropogenically altered landscapes using the ca. 1850 temporal reference.
• Assessing spatial patterns of soil phosphorus availability for plant uptake and microbial utilization across different biomes.
• Quantifying uncertainty in global soil phosphorus stocks using the provided uncertainty estimates for different phosphorus forms.

Strengths

• Provides a global, spatially continuous coverage at a 0.5-degree resolution.
• Distinguishes between multiple chemically and biologically relevant phosphorus forms (labile, organic, occluded, etc.), not just total phosphorus.
• Includes calculated uncertainty estimates for the different phosphorus forms.
• Represents a synthesized product assembled from chronosequence information and multiple global spatial databases.

Limitations

• Metadata completeness is low; specific column names, row counts, and file sizes are not provided across the sources.
• Conflicting last updated dates exist between platforms (e.g., 2026-04-10 on Data.gov vs. 1850-12-31 on NASA Earthdata), creating ambiguity about metadata maintenance.
• The dataset has no explicit temporal component and is a static representation of a pre-industrial state, limiting analysis of temporal trends.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Assembled from chronosequence information and global spatial databases.

Time Range

ca. 1850 (pre-industrial baseline)

Freshness

2026-04-10 02:26:51.203345 (from Data.gov, though this likely reflects metadata update, not data content)

Geography

Global