Russian Agricultural Soil Moisture Averages for 144 Districts, 1927-1982

144 administrative districts in the former Soviet Union are represented by multi-year averages of plant available water content. Observations were collected from 1946-1980 in the western part and 1927-1982 in the eastern part. The data is hosted by the Global Soil Moisture Data Bank and provided by the organization SCIOPS.

Use Cases

• Model historical crop yield potential based on multi-year soil moisture averages.
• Analyze regional water availability for agriculture across the former Soviet Union.
• Benchmark modern soil moisture models against long-term observational averages.
• Study climate variability impacts on agricultural water resources from 1927 to 1982.

Strengths

• Covers 144 administrative districts for broad spatial coverage.
• Provides multi-year averages, which likely smooths out short-term variability.
• Includes observations spanning up to 55 years (1927-1982), offering a long-term perspective.

Limitations

• Last updated 1982-12-31 23:59:59.999000; freshness should be verified.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

Global Soil Moisture Data Bank, hosted at Rutgers University.

Collection Method

Soil moisture observations averaged over multiple years.

Time Range

1927 to 1982 (western part: 1946-1980, eastern part: 1927-1982).

Freshness

1982-12-31 23:59:59.999000

Geography

Agricultural fields of the former Soviet Union, across 144 administrative districts.