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Full catalog/SRDB_V5_1827
SRDB_V5_1827·v5·dataset

Worldwide soil-breathing measurements database

A Global Database of Soil Respiration Data, Version 5.0
land NASA ORNL_CLOUD Level 2 CSV
In plain English

What it measures. A large compiled database of published measurements of soil respiration - the carbon dioxide that soils 'breathe out' - gathered from field studies worldwide. It focuses on seasonal and annual fluxes.

How it's made. Assembled by hand from 2,266 published scientific studies with field measurements taken between 1961 and 2017, including more Russian- and Chinese-language literature for better global coverage.

How & where you'd use it. A reference dataset for carbon-cycle research, letting scientists study how much carbon soils release and how it varies with climate around the world.

What's measured

AGRICULTURE › SOILS › SOIL RESPIRATIONBIOSPHERE › ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS › ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONSLAND SURFACE › SOILS › SOIL RESPIRATION

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span1961-01-01 → 2017-12-31
  • Measured byFIELD INVESTIGATION (LICOR GAS EXCHANGE SYSTEM, LICOR SOIL GAS CHAMBER)
  • Processing levelLevel 2
  • Spatial extent-163.71, -78.02, 175.897, 81.8
  • FormatsCSV
  • 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 Soil Respiration Database (SRDB) is a near-universal compendium of published soil respiration (Rs) data. The database encompasses published studies that report at least one of the following data measured in the field (not laboratory): annual soil respiration, mean seasonal soil respiration, a seasonal or annual partitioning of soil respiration into its source fluxes, soil respiration temperature response (Q10), or soil respiration at 10 degrees C. The SRDB's orientation is to seasonal and annual fluxes, not shorter-term or chamber-specific measurements, and the database is dominated by temperate, well-drained forest measurement locations. Version 5 (V5) is the compilation of 2,266 published studies with measurements taken between 1961-2017. V5 features more soil respiration data published in Russian and Chinese scientific literature for better global spatio-temporal coverage and improved global climate-space representation. The database is also restructured to have better interoperability with other datasets related to carbon-cycle science.

Get the data

srdb_v5_1827_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="SRDB_V5_1827",
    version="5",
    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.