64,800 data points map the water storage capacity of the top 30 centimeters of soil worldwide. A. F. Bouwman and NASA/GISS scientists derived this raster from the FAO-Unesco Soil Map of the World in 1990. The file consists of 180 rows by 360 columns, representing one-by-one degree latitude/longitude cells.
Use Cases
- Modeling soil moisture and water availability for crops based on texture classes.
- Estimating global nitrous oxide production potential in natural soils based on water holding capacity.
- Integrating into climate models for land-surface parameterization based on the 1-degree grid.
- Analyzing regional agricultural suitability based on soil storage capacity values.
- Comparing soil water retention across FAO soil codes and texture classes.
Strengths
- Global coverage at a consistent 1-degree latitude/longitude resolution.
- Derived from a foundational global soil map (FAO-Unesco Soil Map of the World).
- Provides specific storage capacity values (in mm) for 10 distinct texture/soil classes.
- File size is precisely defined as 64.8 Kb with a one-by-one byte per element structure.
Limitations
- Last updated 1993-07-01; freshness should be verified.
- Data is limited to the top 30 centimeters of soil only.
- Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
Provenance
- Source
- NASA/Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) and the National Institute of Public Health and Environmental Protection (RIVM).
- Collection Method
- Derived from soil type and texture information compiled by L. Zobler (1986) from the FAO-Unesco Soil Map of the World (1974).
- Geography
- Global, from 90°N to 90°S latitude and 180°W to 180°E longitude.