European Soil Portal Data

Soil Datasets > Data

Data Inventory: List of data holdings currently available at the European Soil Portal. Some of them are freely available for download while other are restricted due to copyright rules. This list provides the Dataset Title, a Short Description and some Keywords. Each Title is linked to the full dataset description. Download: Data that are freely available for download while other are restricted due to copyright rules (Registration is requested).

European Soil Database

The European Soil Database (ESDB) is the main source of information from which most other data information and services are derived.

(Nov 2006) The Vector data: the full vector version of the ESDB v2.0 are now publicly available. See further documentation for ESDB v2.0 taken from the ESDB v2.0 CD-ROM
(May 2006) The European Soil Database v2 Raster Library - 1kmx1km: The Library contains raster data files for 73 attributes of the European Soil Database; cell sizes are 1km x 1km
The European Soil Database v2 Raster Library - 10kmx10km: The Library contains raster data files for 73 attributes of the European Soil Database (distribution version 2); The Library is also available in GISCO version.
(Feb 2008) Google Earth Files: A number of KMZ files applicable to the European Union extension (27 Countries) of the European Soil Database are available for download.
Legend Files: A number of Legend Files (LYR or AVL format) related to soil data are available for download;
IMPORTANT NOTE: some of the parameters and constructs in the ESDB are better understood through the explanations in this (seemingly outdated, but still very relevant) document that was not bundled with the ESDB.

Soil Threats Data

Soil Threats Data: related to soil threats as they have been identified to Soil Thematic Strategy.

Soil Erosion: PESERA(Pan European Soil Erosion estimates), MESALES (Soil Erosion Risk Assessment), G2 (Geoland2 Erosion Model), Soil erodibility (K-Factor) in Europe, Wind erosion dataset inlcuding agricultural field parameters.
soil Organic Carbon: The Soil Portal makes available the Data of Organic carbon content (%) in the surface horizon of soils in Europe. Global Soil Organic Carbon estimates; density (t ha-1) for the topsoil (0 – 30cm) and the subsoil layer (30 – 100cm) from the amended HWSD.
Natural soil susceptibility to compaction: The evaluation of the soil’s natural susceptibility (6 classes) is based on the creation of logical connections between relevant parameters (pedotransfer rules).
Saline and Sodic Soils in the EU: the datasets shows the area distribution of saline, sodic and potentially salt affected areas within the European Union (5 Classes).
Heavy metals in European soils: Mapping concentrations of eight critical heavy metals (arsenic, cadmium, chromium, copper, mercury, nickel, lead and zinc) using the 1588 georeferenced topsoil samples from the FOREGS Geochemical database.
(Mar 2010) Soil pH in Europe: The JRC created a quantitative map of estimated soil pH values across Europe from a compilation of 12,333 soil pH measurements from 11 different sources, and using a geo-statistical framework based on Regression-Kriging.
(Feb 2013) European Landslide Susceptibility Map (ELSUS1000) v1: The map shows five classes of spatial probability of landslide occurrence at 1 km resolution covering the EU and neighbouring countries.

Soil Profile Data

At European level, two databases with soil profile data exist : SPADE-1 and SPADE-2. Instead, SPADE/M (Soil Profiles) provides an intergated Data structure and offers the SPADE-1 "measured" data (560 profiles) as a collection in a Microsoft Acess database.

EIONET vs ESDAC: European Environment Information and Observation Network (EIONET) vs. European Soil Data Center (ESDAC)

EIONET vs ESDAC: In the context of the development of the ESDAC by the JRC, considered as a focal point for soil related data in Europe, it was jointly decided by European Environment Agency (EEA) and Joint Research Centre (JRC) that all soil data management activities carried out by EEA in collaboration with EIONET will be transferred to the JRC

EIONET Data Collection - Technical Guidelines: In the context of its European Soil Data Centre activities a, the JRC is responsible for collection and management of European soil data(soil erosion and decline in soil organic matter) in collaboration with EIONET members.
EIONET National Focal Points (NFPs): are environmental organisations - represented by persons - appointed by the EEA member countries at the national level as primary links/contacts between the EEA and the national EIONET partners.
EIONET Primary Contact Points for soil : are Lead Institution at National level that would be in charge of networking with all the competent National institutions related to the various soil data needs as identified by DG ENV and EEA.
EIONET National Reference Centres for Soil (NRCs): are nominated by member and cooperating countries. They are nationally funded experts or groups of experts in organisations which are regular collectors or suppliers of environmental data at the national level and/or possess relevant knowledge of specific environmental issues, monitoring or modelling. NRCs operate in specific areas of environmental activity - for example soil.

Soil Projects Data

Soil Project Data: Ouptuts of various projects that can be distributed for free

ECALP Data: In the context of ALPSIS and in line with INSPIRE principles, the JRC has set up a collaboration with the "Eco- pedological Map for the Alpine Territory" (ECALP) project. Data available: Project Data, Reference Grids, GIS Data.
(May 2011) European Food Agency Data (EFSA) Data: a series of datasets have been developed as support to the FATE and the ECOREGION EFSA PPR Working Groups [Soil Maps (Organic matter content, pH, Bulk density, Texture, Water content at field capacity), Meteorological, Landuse - Landcover]
European Reference Grids for the exchange of soil data: it is expected that exchange of soil related data at regional, national and European level will happen in a grid- or raster-like fashion. The basis for such work is the availability of standard or reference grids in a common co-ordinate system with fixed cell sizes and common cell coding.
(Jun 2011) Geoland 2:: G2 estimates soil loss (in t/ha) on a month-step basis and on a landscape scale. G2 model has been applied in the cross-border basin of Strymonas river (14,500 km2), located in South East Europe (Greece / Bulgaria). The data of Strymonas application are provided for free in raster format (Grid and TIFF).
Digital Dataset of European Groundwater Resources - version 1.0: data from digitizing European-wide groundwater maps, resulting from a study by the European Commission in 1982 to catalogue national water resources for several Member States of the European Union .
(Sep 2011) iSOIL: The project generated a wealth of data (maps and associated data sets: Geophysics Gamma Spectrometry, EMI, EM38D, Magnetics, etc) integrated for the Nine (9) main project field sites (from 4 countries: Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Bulgaria) that can be used by other scientists.
RamSoil project assess the options for harmonization of different risk assessment methodologies that are in use. The RAMSOIL database is stored in Excel format
(Jun 2010) Renewable Energy Directive (support): Available Thematic Data Layers for Commission Decision of [11 June 2010] on guidelines for the calculation of land carbon stocks for the purpose of Annex V to Directive 2009/28/EC. The Climatic Zone layer is defined based on the classification of IPCC (IPCC, 2006). Soil types are classified according to the World Reference Base (WRB). Moreover, we make available Spatial Layers for Estimating GHG Emissions from Indirect Land Use Changes(ILUC) due to the Production of Biofuels.

External Data

External Data: Links to websites from where soil related datasets at Global Scale, National Scale and Regional scale could potentially be accessed and/or downloaded

Global Soil Data : overview of soil datasets at Global scale. Download the Harmonized World Soil Database v 1.0
National Soil Data : overview of soil datasets at national level in the EU.
Regional Soil Data : overview of soil datasets at regional level in the EU.
Soil Databases 1:250.000: The European Soil Bureau Network recommended and endorsed the preparation of a georeferenced soil database for Europe at scale 1:250.000

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European Commission - Joint Research Centre
Institute for Environment and Sustainability
Contacts:
Marc Van Liedekerke(tel. +39-0332-785179)
Panos Panagos (tel. +39-0332-785574)

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