Global Gridded Surfaces of Selected Soil Characteristics (IGBP-DIS)

Seven global gridded surfaces model key soil properties, including soil-carbon density, total nitrogen density, field capacity, wilting point, profile available water capacity, thermal capacity, and bulk density. The SoilData System generated these surfaces using a statistical bootstrapping approach to link pedon records with the FAO/UNESCO Digital Soil Map of the World. These derived data surfaces are suitable for global modeling and inventory purposes at a resolution of 5x5 arc-minutes.

Use Cases

• Modeling global carbon and nitrogen cycles based on soil-carbon and nitrogen density surfaces.
• Assessing agricultural water availability based on field capacity, wilting point, and profile available water capacity.
• Estimating soil thermal properties for climate models using the thermal capacity surface.
• Conducting global soil inventory and classification studies using derived physical and chemical parameters.

Strengths

• Contains seven distinct, globally consistent data surfaces for key soil parameters.
• Generated using a documented statistical methodology (SoilData System bootstrapping) linking pedon data to a global soil map.
• Provides data at a standardized, relatively high resolution of 5x5 arc-minutes.

Limitations

• Metadata completeness is low; specific column names, row counts, and file sizes are not provided.
• Conflicting freshness information: one platform lists a 2026 update date, while another indicates the underlying data is from 1996.
• The license is ambiguously listed as 'other-license-specified' without further details.

Provenance

Source

SoilData System developed by the Global Soil Data Task of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) Data and Information Services (DIS).

Collection Method

Statistical bootstrapping to link pedon records from the Global Pedon Database to the FAO/UNESCO Digital Soil Map of the World.

Freshness

2026-04-10 02:26:28.448340 (datagov), but underlying data generation date is 1996-12-31 (nasa_earthdata).

Geography

Global coverage.