Global Gridded Surfaces of Selected Soil Characteristics (IGBP-DIS)
by SOIL DATA TASK GLOBAL
Available on 1 platform
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Description
Global soil characteristic surfaces at a 5x5 arc-minute resolution, generated by the IGBP Data and Information Services SoilData System. The dataset contains seven derived surfaces, including soil-carbon density, total nitrogen density, and water-holding capacity, suitable for modeling and inventory. It was created by linking pedon records to the FAO/UNESCO Digital Soil Map of the World using a statistical bootstrapping approach.
Use Cases
Modeling global carbon and nitrogen cycles based on soil-carbon and nitrogen density surfaces.
Assessing land surface water availability for vegetation based on profile available water capacity, field capacity, and wilting point.
Incorporating soil thermal properties into climate models based on the thermal capacity surface.
Conducting global soil resource inventories based on derived physical characteristics like bulk density.
Strengths
Global coverage at a consistent 5x5 arc-minute spatial resolution.
Contains seven distinct derived soil parameter surfaces, including carbon density and water-holding capacity.
Generated using a documented statistical bootstrapping methodology linking pedon data to a global soil map.
Limitations
Row count and file size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.
Provenance
Source
International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) Data and Information Services (DIS) SoilData System.
Collection Method
Statistical bootstrapping to link the Global Pedon Database to the FAO/UNESCO Digital Soil Map of the World.