National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service(NESDIS)
GRASS file header information is given immediately below for the 8.6 minute faosoil grids, plus a brief explanation of the processing techniques to make the fsoil*.img files contained in the \data\ncillary directory on this CD-ROM. The GRASS file header information helps to describe the georeferencing of these data, which have been resampled for use with the Global AVHRR-Derived Climatologies contained on Volume 1 of this set.
The most important items are e-w resol(ution), n-s resol(ution), north and south latitudes. The GVI Plate Carree grid claims 904x2500 columns and rows, 75N to 55S coverage. The convention of square "pixels" is implied. These three can't co-exist. To allow for 904x2500 gridding (which we know to exist), we must abandon square pixels or a precise 75N to 55S region. A few years ago I tried to find out more about the projection. Several people, including Dan Tarpley, couldn't recreate the decision-making process, and didn't remember that any documentation on these issues was created. Dan and I agreed that the square pixels were likely, and that the latitude range(s) were probably treated casually - not precisely.
Thus the noted N and S limits for the extremes of the northernmost and southernmost pixels in the data set.
The source map for the enclosed files is the faosoils map in the Global Ecosystems Database. This is a global grid at 2-arc-minutes latitude-longitude. To resample it to the 8.6 minutes nominal grid of the GVI Plate Carree data, I made 3 image files:
fsoilnn.img: The value given at each location is the value of the 2' file located at the center of the output Plate Carree grid. (e.g. nearest neighbor resampling). There are 133 classes.
fsoilmod.img: The value given at each location is the mode (most commonly occuring value) in a 3x3 grid of the original 2' file. 133 classes, as above.
fsoildiv.img: The value given at each location is the number of soil classes
in a 3x3 grid of the original 2' file. I didn't look at
the result, but GRASS said that values range from 1 to 5
input classes per 3x3 sample area. Thus, for areas with
values 3-5, the output soil86md.img and soil86.img values
might not adequately represent the diversity of soil types
in the area....
faosoil.doc: This is the Idrisi documentation header file for the original 2' data set. Class numbers and names correspond to class numbers in soil86.img and soil86md.img.
Global Ecosystems Database Disc A: Chapter 16
FAO Soils Data (resampled)
DATA-SET DESCRIPTION
Data-Set Name: Gridded FAO/UNESCO Soil Units (resampled)
Principal Investigator: FAO/UNESCO
SOURCE
Source Data Citation: UNEP/GRID, 1986. FAO Soil Map of the World in
digital form. Digital raster data on a 2-minute geographic
(lat/long) 5400x10800 grid. Carouge, Switzerland: UNEP/GRID. 1 file
on 9-track tape, 58.3 MB.
Contributor: FAO/UNESCO
Distributor: UNEP/GRID/Geneva
Vintage: circa 1970s
Lineage:
(1) Original investigation: FAO/UNESCO
(2) Digitizing: ESRI (FAO contract) into Arc/INFO
380 New York Street, Redlands CA 92373
(3) Reprocessed into raster form: UNEP/GRID
6 rue de la Gabelle; 1227 Carouge Switzerland
ORIGINAL DESIGN
Variables: Soil Classes
Origin: Hardcopy atlas compiled from best available source materials
Geographic Reference:
Geographic (latitude/longitude)
Geographic Coverage:
Global:
Maximum Latitude: +90 degrees (N)
Minimum Latitude: -90 degrees (S)
Maximum Longitude: +180 degrees (E)
Minimum Longitude: -180 degrees(W)
Geographic Sampling:
1:5,000,000 printed map digitized as vector polygons, then sampled
to a 2-minute raster grid
Time Period:
Static (compiled in mid 1970s)
Temporal Sampling:
Static modern composite
INTEGRATED DATA-SET
Data-Set Citation: UNEP/GRID, 1992. Global Gridded FAO/UNESCO Soil
Units. Digital raster data on a 2-minute geographic (lat/long)
10800x5400 grid. In: Global Ecosystems Database Version 1.0, Disc
a. Boulder, CO: NOAA National Geophysical Data Center. 1
single-attribute spatial layer on CD-ROM, 58.3 MB. [first
published in 1984].
Analyst: Lloyd MacGregor, UNEP/GRID
Projection: Geographic (latitude/longitude)
Spatial Representation: This version 10-minute grid characteristic
values. Resampled as nearest neighbor value (e.g. original
2-minute value closest to center of output 8.64-minute grid cell.
Alternate data set contains most common of the 2-minute values
overlapping each output 8.64- minute data set. The output data
register with the AVHRR climatologies presented here.
Temporal Representation:
Static modern composite
Data Representation:
Eight-bit unsigned integers representing characteristic soil classes
Layers and Attributes:
One single-attribute spatial layer
Data Volume:
Approximately 2.3 MB
ADDITIONAL REFERENCES
see Technical Report, below
DATA FILE DESCRIPTION
DATA ELEMENT: Gridded FAO/UNESCO Soil Units (resampled)
STRUCTURE:
Raster Data Files: 8.64-minute GVI 904x2500 grid
SERIES: NONE
SPATIAL META-DATA: \DOCUMENT\NCILLARY\FSOIL\FAOSOIL.DOC
image title : UNESCO/FAO Soil Units
data type : byte
file type : binary
rows : 904
columns : 2500
minimum : 0.0000000000E+00
maximum : 1.3300000000E+02
cell x : 1.44E-01
cell y : 1.44E-01
legend : 133
category 1 : 1 A Acrisols
category 2 : 2 Af Ferric Acrisols
category 3 : 3 Ag Gleyic Acrisols
category 4 : 4 Ah Humic Acrisols
category 5 : 5 Ao Orthic Acrisols
category 6 : 6 Ap Plinthic Acrisols
category 7 : 7 B Cambisols
category 8 : 8 Bc Chromic Cambisols
category 9 : 9 Bd Dystric Cambisols
category 10 : 10 Be Eutric Cambisols
category 11 : 11 Bf Ferralic Cambisols
category 12 : 12 Bg Gleyic Cambisols
category 13 : 13 Bh Humic Cambisols
category 14 : 14 Bk Calcic Cambisols
category 15 : 15 Bv Vertic Cambisols
category 16 : 16 Bx Gelic Cambisols
category 17 : 17 C Chernozems
category 18 : 18 Cg Glossic Chernozems
category 19 : 19 Ch Haplic Chernozems
category 20 : 20 Ck Calcic Chernozems
category 21 : 21 Cl Luvic Chernozems
category 22 : 22 D Podzoluvisols
category 23 : 23 Dd Dystric Podzoluvisols
category 24 : 24 De Eutric Podzoluvisols
category 25 : 25 Dg Gleyic Podzoluvisols
category 26 : 26 E Rendzinas
category 27 : 27 F Ferralsols
category 28 : 28 Fa Acric Ferralsols
category 29 : 29 Fh Humic Ferralsols
category 30 : 30 Fo Orthic Ferralsols
category 31 : 31 Fp Plinthic Ferralsols
category 32 : 32 Fr Rhodic Ferralsols
category 33 : 33 Fx Xanthic Ferralsols
category 34 : 34 G Gleysols
category 35 : 35 Gc Calcaric Gleysols
category 36 : 36 Gd Dystric Gleysols
category 37 : 37 Ge Eutric Gleysols
category 38 : 38 Gh Humic Gleysols
category 39 : 39 Gm Mollic Gleysols
category 40 : 40 Gp Plinthic Gleysols
category 41 : 41 Gx Gelic Gleysols
category 42 : 42 H Phaeozems
category 43 : 43 Hc Calcaric Phaeozems
category 44 : 44 Hg Gleyic Phaeozems
category 45 : 45 Hh Haplic Phaeozems
category 46 : 46 Hl Luvic Phaeozems
category 47 : 47 I Lithosols
category 48 : 48 J Fluvisols
category 49 : 49 Jc Calcaric Fluvisols
category 50 : 50 Jd Dystric Fluvisols
category 51 : 51 Je Eutric Fluvisols
category 52 : 52 Jt Thionic Fluvisols
category 53 : 53 K Kastanozems
category 54 : 54 Kh Haplic Kastanozems
category 55 : 55 Kk Calcic Kastanozems
category 56 : 56 Kl Luvic Kastanozems
category 57 : 57 L Luvisols
category 58 : 58 La Albic Luvisols
category 59 : 59 Lc Chromic Luvisols
category 60 : 60 Lf Ferric Luvisols
category 61 : 61 Lg Gleyic Luvisols
category 62 : 62 Lk Calcic Luvisols
category 63 : 63 Lo Orthic Luvisols
category 64 : 64 Lp Plinthic Luvisols
category 65 : 65 Lv Vertic Luvisols
category 66 : 66 M Greyzems
category 67 : 67 Mg Gleyic Greyzems
category 68 : 68 Mo Orthic Gleyzems
category 69 : 69 N Nitosols
category 70 : 70 Nd Dystric Nitosols
category 71 : 71 Ne Eutric Nitosols
category 72 : 72 Nh Humic Nitosols
category 73 : 73 O Histosols
category 74 : 74 Od Dystric Histosols
category 75 : 75 Oe Eutric Histosols
category 76 : 76 Ox Gelic Histosols
category 77 : 77 P Podzols
category 78 : 78 Pf Ferric Podzols
category 79 : 79 Pg Gleyic Podzols
category 80 : 80 Ph Humic Podzols
category 81 : 81 Pl Leptic Podzols
category 82 : 82 Po Orthic Podzols
category 83 : 83 Pp Placic Podzols
category 84 : 84 Q Arenosols
category 85 : 85 Aq Albic Arenosols
category 86 : 86 Qc Cambic Arenosols
category 87 : 87 Qf Ferralic Arenosols
category 88 : 88 Ql Luvic Arenosols
category 89 : 89 R Regosols
category 90 : 90 Rc Calcaric Regosols
category 91 : 91 Rd Dystric Regosols
category 92 : 92 Re Eutric Regosols
category 93 : 93 Rx Gelic Regosols
category 94 : 94 S Solonetz
category 95 : 95 Sg Gleyic Solonetz
category 96 : 96 Sm Mollic Solonetz
category 97 : 97 So Orthic Solonetz
category 98 : 98 T Andosols
category 99 : 99 Th Humic Andosols
category100 : 100 Tm Mollic Andosols
category101 : 101 To Ochric Andosols
category102 : 102 Tv Vitric Andosols
category103 : 103 U Rankers
category104 : 104 V Vertisols
category105 : 105 Vc Chromic Vertisols
category106 : 106 Vp Pellic Vertisols
category107 : 107 W Planosols
category108 : 108 Wd Dystric Planosols
category109 : 109 We Eutric Planosols
category110 : 110 Wh Humic Planosols
category111 : 111 Wm Mollic Planosols
category112 : 112 Ws Solodic Planosols
category113 : 113 Wx Gelic Planosols
category114 : 114 X Xerosols
category115 : 115 Xh Haplic Xerosols
category116 : 116 Xk Calcic Xerosols
category117 : 117 Xl Luvic Xerosols
category118 : 118 Xy Gypsic Xerosols
category119 : 119 Y Yermosols
category120 : 120 Yh Haplic Yermosols
category121 : 121 Yk Calcic Yermosols
category122 : 122 Yl Luvic Yermosols
category123 : 123 Yt Takyric Yermosols
category124 : 124 Yy Gypsic Yermosols
category125 : 125 Z Solonchaks
category126 : 126 Zg Gleyic Solonchaks
category127 : 127 Zm Mollic Solonchaks
category128 : 128 Zo Orthic Solonchaks
category129 : 129 Zt Takyric Solonchaks
category130 : 130 RO Rock
category131 : 131 SA Salt
category132 : 132 WA Water
category133 : 133 -- no name
backgrnd 0 : Ocean
data units : classed
flag value :
min X : -1.8000000000E+02
max X : 1.8000000000E+02
min Y : -5.5000000000E+01
max Y : 7.5000000000E+01
ref. system : lat/lon
ref. units : deg
comment : first column is category number, second column is
soil unit abbreviation
TECHNICAL REPORT
Data Integration and Quality (Part I)
David A. Hastings (ed.)
NOAA National Geophysical Data Center, Boulder, Colorado
This CD-ROM contains two versions of the FAO Soils Data set
described below.
1.) One version is a 8.64-minute resampling of the original data,
where the output value equals the input 2-minute value closest to
the center to each output 8.64- minute grid cell.
2.) The other version is a 8.64-minute sampling of the original
data, where the output value equals the most common of the input
2-minute grid cells contained in each output 8.64-minute grid
cell.
These data were resampled to register with the AVHRR
Climatologies, which are the main data on this CD-ROM.
Data Integration and Quality (Part I)
John J. Kineman (ed.)
NOAA National Geophysical Data Center, Boulder, Colorado
Background
This data set was produced at UNEP/GRID (Geneva) by rasterizing on
a 2-minute grid from a vector GIS (Arc/INFO) version of the 1973
FAO/UNESCO Soil Map of the World at 1:5,000,000 scale. The
digitizing was done by ESRI of Redlands CA. This work was
completed in 1984 as part of a FAO/UNEP Desertification and
Map-ping Project (ESRI, 1984). The Arc/INFO version of the map was
used as a base map for that project. The original FAO Soil Map was
produced on 18 map sheets with varying projections. The digitized
(vector) version was thus broken into regions with different
projections. One of these projections (the Miller Oblate
Stereographic Projection for Africa) did not have an inverse
transformation, so it has been difficult to assemble a digital
version of this data set into a uniform global grid.
Some modifications were made to the original data in the
production of this version at UNEP/GRID, including conversion from
a 106 category legend to 133 categories. Although the
documentation provided with the data refers only to Africa it is
assumed to be relevant to the global data set. For more informa-
tion on content of the data set, see the scanned documentation on
the CD-ROM (\document\ncillary\fsoil\*.gif).
Processing
Projection transformations were performed at UNEP/GRID (Geneva) to
produce a global data set in lat/long projection, which was then
rasterized. The exact methods used have not been published, except
for the informal documentation sent from GRID, which appears in
the scanned documentation on this CD-ROM
(\document\ncillary\fsoil\*.gif). Nevertheless, it is likely that
a revised version of this data set will be produced in the future,
through various cooperative efforts. FAO (Rome) has developed a
revised classification for the map, and recommends that the older
version (supplied here) be abandoned in favor of the newer
classification (which, reportedly, does not change the underlying
spatial units). Meanwhile, however, versions of the ESRI digital
version have been disseminated to many research groups and
individuals, and the information has worked its way into the
literature in significant ways. Many of the soils and vegetation
data sets included in the Global Ecosystems Database were based on
the current version of the FAO Soils Map of the World).
Because documentation is limited for this version of the data set,
and because the 2-minute grid cell size of the original source
data on the Global Ecosystems Database is not compatible with the
adopted GED "nested grid" convention, it was listed in the Global
Ecosystems Database as an experimental data set in transi- tion.
On the other hand, the extensive use of the FAO Soils Map (vector
ver- sion) and the future need for comparison with revised
versions, indicates the need for distribution at this stage, in a
form that can be easily compared to its derivative data sets,
other data sets, and subsequent versions. This UNEP raster version
meets this need, since it is in a convenient form for intercom-
parison, although there are questions of how representative it may
be of the original data.
No attempt was made to further process the data except to bring it
into the GED format for experimental use, and to create a color
palette confirming to the information contained in the UNEP/GRID
documentation. It confirms to the GED window and registration
convention (i.e. edge-registered cells windowed between poles and
with the International Data Line at the eastern and western edges
of the grid). The 2-minute grid cell is an even multiple of
10-minutes and 30- minutes and 1-degree, thus affording easy
comparison with the other data sets in the GED that are based on
the FAO soils data. It is not directly comparable with 5-minute
grids, however, which will likely be the preferred alternative in
the "nested grid" structure (see User's Guide).
*FAO SOILS ATLAS
ANCILLARY ENVIRONMENTAL DATA
10-minutes (modal value of source 2-minute data)
#\data\ncillary\fsoilmod.img 10-minutes (nearest neighbor of
source 2-minute data) #\data\ncillary\fsoilnn.img Diversity
(number of input 2' classes per output 10' class)
#\data\ncillary\fsoildiv.img
The data are available with their original sampling on the Global Ecosystems Database Disk A, available from: