ISSR-800
Intermediate-scale gridded soil property and interpretation maps from averaged and aggregated SSURGO and STATSGO data.
Background
There is a long-standing gap in analytical capacity for users of soil information, between the scales of SSURGO and STATSGO, typically requiring a raster-based product. Such a product must be simple to use and sufficiently detailed for development or refinement of LRU and MLRA concepts. SDD staff have developed a product that provides raster maps of the most frequently requested soil properties and interpretations, provided at the 800m grid size, derived from SSURGO and STATSGO.
Objective
Provide a set of continuous rasters for selected soil properties for relevant depths, as well as for selected interpretations, derived from SSURGO and STATSGO, for the entire U.S. The resulting maps would be a compromise between flexibility and ease of use. Alternative "gap-filled" products (as proposed by the Database Focus Team) could serve the role as a general purpose, vector/raster database.
What
The product proposed here provides soil property and interpretation information for 800m grid raster files. Values for a selected set of soil properties at specified depths, as well as selected interpretation, are provided for each 800m pixel. Depending on the property, depth interval used, and interpretation, different methods are used to aggregate within the profile and across the map unit. An excel spreadsheet is available on a NCSS GitHub site or a Database Focus Team SharePoint page for examination of the different values and methods used. Some pixels will represent information across map unit boundaries contained in the original vector maps. For this project, the 800m pixel size was chosen to provide a product for LRU to MLRA to continental scale projects that are small enough for rapid analysis and display. Another reason for the 800m pixel size is to approximate the size of the 800m PRISM climate products that are commonly available and used as climate proxies in many regional to continental scale analyses.
Purpose
Some ideas on scale-appropriate usage:
- MLRA comparison report
- MLRA concept model; see slides 19-22 from original 800m talk given at the Boise NCSS conference
- Simple water-balance using 800m PRISM / ISSR-800 AWC / MODIS estimates of PET
- Ecological Site Specialists can use some of these maps for LRU concept development and testing
- Evaluation of products like SoilGrids
- Inform regional or CONUS-wide SMR and STR models
Staff
- Dylan Beaudette - Digital Soil Mapping Specialist, NRCS Region 2
- Jennifer Wood - Soil Data Quality Specialist, NRCS Region
- Tom D’Avello - Soil Scientist/GIS Specialist, NSSC-Geospatial Research Unit
- Whityn Owen - GIS Specialist, NRCS Oregon
- Stephen Roecker - Soil Data Quality Specialist/GIS Specialist, NRCS Region 11
- Jason Nemecek - State Soil Scientist, Wisconsin
Related Products
Related Publications
- Ireland, A. W., and P. J. Drohan. 2015. Rapid Delineation of Preliminary Ecological Sites Applied to Forested Northern Appalachian Landscapes. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 79:185-192. (CONUS-SOIL used for rapid ESD development)