Winter Topsoil Properties Across Great Britain, 2021

575 soil samples from 146 one-kilometer squares across Great Britain measure winter 2021 topsoil properties. The UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology collected data on pH, soil organic matter, carbon and nitrogen stocks, bulk density, and moisture. This work supports the UK-SCAPE programme to detect environmental changes over time.

Use Cases

• Model soil organic carbon (SOC) stock using soil organic matter (LOI) and bulk density measurements.
• Analyze correlations between soil pH, nitrogen concentration, and fine earth volumetric water content.
• Map spatial distributions of soil group classifications and soil moisture across 146 sampled squares.
• Assess carbon and nitrogen stock variability relative to soil group and bulk density.

Strengths

• Contains 575 physical soil samples from a structured survey.
• Data collected from 146 stratified random sample squares across Great Britain.
• Includes multiple key soil properties: pH, organic matter, carbon, nitrogen, bulk density, and moisture.
• Part of a long-term monitoring series allowing temporal comparison from 1978 to 2021.

Limitations

• Sample size is limited to 575 cores, which may constrain granular spatial or statistical analyses.
• Data represents a single winter season (2021), limiting analysis of seasonal or intra-annual variation.
• Properties like carbon stock are derived from loss on ignition (LOI), not direct elemental analysis.

Provenance

Source

UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) Countryside Survey

Collection Method

Stratified random sampling based on a 15km grid, with rigorous scientific field collection.

Time Range

Winter 2021

Freshness

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Geography

Great Britain