Global Soil Texture and Derived Water-Holding Capacities (Webb et al.)

All data are global at a 1 degree resolution and are provided in ASCII format. The primary data consist of 2 files. One file contains the depth and particle size (percent sand, silt, and clay) information for each major continent, soil type, and soil horizon.

The other file contains ocean/continental coding (corresponding to FAO/UNESCO Soil Map of the World) (FAO/UNESCO, 1971-1981) and Zobler soil type classifications (Zobler, 1986). A fortran code for reading these data files is provided. In addition to the primary data files, there are also 5 derived data sets available for download: 1) soil profile thickness, 2) potential storage of water in the soil profile, 3) potential storage of water in the root zone, 4) potential storage of water derived from soil texture, 5) data set used to prescribe water-holding capacity in the GISS GCM (Model II).

Data

Citation

The data set should be cited as follows: Webb, Robert W., Cynthia E. Rosenzweig, and Elissa R. Levine. 2000. Global Soil Texture and Derived Water-Holding Capacities (Webb et al.). Available on-line from Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distributed Active Archive Center, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, U.S.A.