Brazilian Soil Spectral Library: VIS-NIR-SWIR-MIR Data

Brazil's national soil spectral library contains harmonized physicochemical and spectral reflectance data from 16,084 sampling sites at 0-20 cm depth. The database includes Visible, Near-Infrared, and Shortwave Infrared (Vis-NIR-SWIR) data for all samples, with a subset also containing Middle Infrared (MIR) spectral measurements. This open-access repository supports modeling of soil attributes to reduce the time and cost of traditional soil surveying.

Use Cases

• Predicting soil physicochemical properties based on spectral reflectance signatures.
• Mapping soil composition and attributes across Brazil's diverse agricultural regions.
• Validating new soil spectroscopy models by comparing measured data against a large reference library.
• Developing cost-effective soil surveying methods to reduce chemical product use and waste.

Strengths

• Contains data from 16,084 distinct sampling sites, providing a large-scale national reference.
• Covers diverse soil types across Brazil's large territory, relevant for agricultural and environmental applications.
• Includes harmonized data from multiple sources, curated by a named research group (GeoCiS) since 1995.

Limitations

• Not all samples contain Middle Infrared (MIR) spectral data, limiting completeness for that spectral range.
• Metadata completeness is medium; specific column names and exact row counts are not provided in the input.
• The last updated date is unknown, which may affect assessments of data freshness.

Provenance

Source

Universidade de São Paulo, GeoCiS research group, coordinated by José Alexandre Melo Demattê.

Collection Method

Soil samples collected and analyzed from various sources, with spectral measurements taken.

Time Range

Collection initiated in 1995, with publications in 2019 and 2022.

Geography

Brazil, covering diverse soil types across the national territory.