ALBERT

Description: Global soil dataset is a pillar to the challenge of earth system modeling. But it is one of the most important uncertainty sources for Earth System Models (ESMs). Soil datasets function as model parameters, initial variables and benchmark datasets for model calibration, validation and comparison. For modeling use, the dataset should be geographically continuous, scalable and with uncertainty estimates. The popular soil datasets used in ESMs are often based on limited soil profiles and coarse resolution soil maps. Updated and comprehensive soil information needs to be incorporated in ESMs. New generation soil datasets derived by digital soil mapping with abundant soil observations and environmental covariates are preferred to those by the linkage method for ESMs. Because there is no universal pedotransfer function, an ensemble of them may be more suitable to provide secondary soil parameters to ESMs. Aggregation and upscaling of soil data are needed for model use but can be avoid by taking a subgrid method in ESMs at the cost of increases in model complexity. Uncertainty of soil data needs to be incorporated in ESMs.

Description: Depth to bedrock serves as the lower boundary of soil, which influences or controls many of the Earth’s physical and chemical processes. It plays important roles in geology, hydrology, land surface processes, civil engineering, and other related fields. This paper describes the materials and methods to produce a high-resolution (100m) depth-to-bedrock map of China. Observations were interpreted from borehole log data (ca. 6,382 locations) sampled from the Chinese National Important Geological Borehole Database. To fill in large sampling gaps, additional pseudo-observations generated based on expert knowledge were added. Then, we overlaid the training points on a stack of 133 covariates including climatic images, DEM-derived parameters, land-cover and land-use maps, MODIS surface reflectance bands, vegetation index images, and the Harmonized World Soil Database. Spatial prediction models were developed using the random forests and gradient boosting tree, and ensemble prediction results were then obtained by these two independently fitted models. Finally, uncertainty estimation was generated by the quantile regression forest model. The 10-fold cross-validation showed that the ensemble models explain 57% of the variation in depth to bedrock. Based on comparison with depth-to-bedrock maps of China extracted from previous global predictions, our predictions showed higher accuracy. More observations, especially those in data-sparse areas, should be added to training data, and more covariates with high precision should be used to further improve the accuracy of spatial predictions. The resulting maps of this study are available on Figshare at the following DOI: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.7011524.v1. And they are also available for download at http://globalchange.bnu.edu.cn/ .

Description: Soil is an important regulator of Earth system processes, but remains one of the least well-described data layers in Earth system models (ESMs). We reviewed global soil property maps from the perspective of ESMs, including soil physical and chemical and biological properties, which can also offer insights to soil data developers and users. These soil datasets provide model inputs, initial variables, and benchmark datasets. For modelling use, the dataset should be geographically continuous and scalable and have uncertainty estimates. The popular soil datasets used in ESMs are often based on limited soil profiles and coarse-resolution soil-type maps with various uncertainty sources. Updated and comprehensive soil information needs to be incorporated into ESMs. New generation soil datasets derived through digital soil mapping with abundant, harmonized, and quality-controlled soil observations and environmental covariates are preferred to those derived through the linkage method (i.e. taxotransfer rule-based method) for ESMs. SoilGrids has the highest accuracy and resolution among the global soil datasets, while other recently developed datasets offer useful compensation. Because there is no universal pedotransfer function, an ensemble of them may be more suitable for providing derived soil properties to ESMs. Aggregation and upscaling of soil data are needed for model use, but can be avoided by using a subgrid method in ESMs at the expense of increases in model complexity. Producing soil property maps in a time series still remains challenging. The uncertainties in soil data need to be estimated and incorporated into ESMs.