Abstract

Abstract. The World Soil Information Service (WoSIS) provides quality-assessed and standardised soil profile data to support digital soil mapping and environmental applications at broadscale levels. Since the release of the first “WoSIS snapshot”, in July 2016, many new soil data were shared with us, registered in the ISRIC data repository and subsequently standardised in accordance with the licences specified by the data providers. Soil profile data managed in WoSIS were contributed by a wide range of data providers; therefore, special attention was paid to measures for soil data quality and the standardisation of soil property definitions, soil property values (and units of measurement) and soil analytical method descriptions. We presently consider the following soil chemical properties: organic carbon, total carbon, total carbonate equivalent, total nitrogen, phosphorus (extractable P, total P and P retention), soil pH, cation exchange capacity and electrical conductivity. We also consider the following physical properties: soil texture (sand, silt, and clay), bulk density, coarse fragments and water retention. Both of these sets of properties are grouped according to analytical procedures that are operationally comparable. Further, for each profile we provide the original soil classification (FAO, WRB, USDA), version and horizon designations, insofar as these have been specified in the source databases. Measures for geographical accuracy (i.e. location) of the point data, as well as a first approximation for the uncertainty associated with the operationally defined analytical methods, are presented for possible consideration in digital soil mapping and subsequent earth system modelling. The latest (dynamic) set of quality-assessed and standardised data, called “wosis_latest”, is freely accessible via an OGC-compliant WFS (web feature service). For consistent referencing, we also provide time-specific static “snapshots”. The present snapshot (September 2019) is comprised of 196 498 geo-referenced profiles originating from 173 countries. They represent over 832 000 soil layers (or horizons) and over 5.8 million records. The actual number of observations for each property varies (greatly) between profiles and with depth, generally depending on the objectives of the initial soil sampling programmes. In the coming years, we aim to fill gradually gaps in the geographic distribution and soil property data themselves, this subject to the sharing of a wider selection of soil profile data for so far under-represented areas and properties by our existing and prospective partners. Part of this work is foreseen in conjunction within the Global Soil Information System (GloSIS) being developed by the Global Soil Partnership (GSP). The “WoSIS snapshot – September 2019” is archived and freely accessible at https://doi.org/10.17027/isric-wdcsoils.20190901 (Batjes et al., 2019).

Highlights

  • According to a recent review, so far over 800 000 soil profiles have been rescued and compiled into databases over the past few decades (Arrouays et al, 2017)

  • World Soil Information Service (WoSIS) aims to provide consistent harmonised soil data, derived from a wide range of legacy holdings as well as from more recently developed soil datasets derived from proximal sensing, in an interoperable mode and preferably within the setting of a federated, global soil information system (GLOSIS; see Global Soil Partnership (GSP)-SDF, 2018)

  • We have expanded the number of soil properties considered in the preceding snapshot, i.e. those listed in the GlobalSoilMap (2015) specifications, gradually working towards the range of soil properties commonly considered in other global soil data compilation programmes (Batjes, 2016; FAO et al, 2012; van Engelen and Dijkshoorn, 2013)

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Summary

Introduction

According to a recent review, so far over 800 000 soil profiles have been rescued and compiled into databases over the past few decades (Arrouays et al, 2017). This paper describes procedures for preserving, qualityassessing, standardising and subsequently providing consistent world soil data to the international community, as developed in the framework of the Data or WoSIS (World Soil Information Service) project since the release of the first snapshot in 2016 (Batjes et al, 2017); this collaborative project draws on an increasingly large complement of shared soil profile data. We follow the definition of harmonisation used by the Global Soil Partnership (GSP, Baritz et al, 2014). It encompasses “providing mechanisms for the collation, analysis and exchange of consistent and comparable global soil data and information”. We have expanded the number of soil properties considered in the preceding snapshot, i.e. those listed in the GlobalSoilMap (2015) specifications, gradually working towards the range of soil properties commonly considered in other global soil data compilation programmes (Batjes, 2016; FAO et al, 2012; van Engelen and Dijkshoorn, 2013)

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