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Full catalog/IGBP-SurfaceProducts_569
IGBP-SurfaceProducts_569·v1·dataset

Global maps of soil properties

Global Gridded Surfaces of Selected Soil Characteristics (IGBP-DIS)
land NASA ORNL_CLOUD Level 3 ASCII Grid
In plain English

What it measures. Global maps of seven soil properties, including soil carbon, total nitrogen, water-holding capacity, wilting point, available water, thermal capacity, and bulk density.

How it's made. Generated by a soil-data system that statistically links field soil records to a global soil map, not from a satellite. The maps come at a roughly 5-mile grid resolution.

How & where you'd use it. Used for environmental modeling and inventories that need consistent global information about soils.

What's measured

LAND SURFACE › SOILS › CARBONLAND SURFACE › SOILS › NITROGENLAND SURFACE › SOILS › SOIL WATER HOLDING CAPACITYLAND SURFACE › SOILS › SOIL BULK DENSITYLAND SURFACE › SOILS › SOIL CHEMISTRYLAND SURFACE › SOILS › SOIL CLASSIFICATIONLAND SURFACE › SOILS › SOIL MOISTURE/WATER CONTENTLAND SURFACE › SOILS › SOIL HORIZONS/PROFILE

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span1950-01-01 → 1996-12-31
  • Measured byNOT APPLICABLE (NOT APPLICABLE)
  • Processing levelLevel 3
  • Spatial extent-180, -90, 180, 90
  • FormatsASCII Grid
  • StatusCOMPLETE

What you can do with it

  • Track deforestation, fire scars and land-cover change
  • Monitor crop and vegetation health (NDVI/EVI)
  • Map how built-up vs. green an area is over time
Official description

The Global Gridded Surfaces of Selected Soil Characteristics (IGBP-DIS) data set contains 7 data surfaces: soil-carbon density, total nitrogen density, field capacity, wilting point, profile available water capacity, thermal capacity, and bulk density. All the surfaces are global, at a resolution of 5x5 arc-minutes, in ASCIIGRID format for ARC INFO. Each file contains a single ASCII array in a geographic (lat/long) projection. The ascii files consist of header information containing a set of keywords, followed by cell values in row-major order. These data surfaces were generated by the SoilData System, which was developed by the Global Soil Data Task of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) Data and Information Services (DIS). The SoilData System generates soil information and maps for geographic regions at soil depths and resolutions selected by the user. Derived surfaces of selected soil characteristics are suitable for modeling and inventory purposes. The data surfaces are also distributed as part of the Global Soil Data Products CD-ROM. The SoilData System uses a statistical bootstrapping approach to link the pedon records in the Global Pedon Database to the FAO/UNESCO Digital Soil Map of the World. It can generate maps and output data sets for a range of original and derived soil parameters, such as carbon and nitrogen density, thermal conductivity, and water-holding capacity, for any part of the world at user-selected depth ranges. The digital output can be at any resolution (in increments of 5').

Get the data

igbp-surfaceproducts_569_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="IGBP-SurfaceProducts_569",
    version="1",
    bounding_box=(-122.5, 37.2, -121.8, 37.9),  # your area (W,S,E,N)
    temporal=("2024-01-01", "2024-12-31"),       # your dates
)
files = earthaccess.open(results)   # stream straight from ORNL_CLOUD
Browsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package.