Digital summaries of legacy pedon descriptions

Stephen Roecker, Dylan Beaudette, Jay Skovlin, Skye Wills
6/1/2015

NRCS soil databases

  1. National Soil Information System (NASIS) (SQL Server)
    • SSURGO and Soil Data Access
    • STASTGO2
  2. Soil Characterization Database (Access)
  3. Ecological Site Descriptions (Text)
  4. Official Series Descriptions (Text)

* sorted by database sophistication

Legacy pedon data within the US

library(aqp)
library(soilDB)
library(plyr)
library(ggplot2)
library(reshape2)
library(stringr)
library(knitr)


pedons <- c(577, 6152, 9517, 19058, 42587, 112182, 231609, 184913)
year <- c("<1950s", "1950s", "1960s", "1970s", "1980s", "1990s", "2000s", "2010s")

cat("# pedons = ", formatC(sum(pedons), big.mark = ",", format = "fg"), "\n", "# lab pedons = ~64,000", sep = "")
# pedons = 606,595
# lab pedons = ~64,000
ggplot(data.frame(pedons, year), aes(x=year, y=pedons)) + geom_bar(stat="identity")

plot of chunk unnamed-chunk-1

# There has been lots of talk about the number or Soil Series, Components, Map units, etc... but little focus on the point data resource.
# Lots of talk about collecting new data, but little appreciation for existing data.

NASIS data structure

alt text

  • Released in 1994, custom Microsft SQL Server
  • Tables for: field pedons, lab pedons, component data, map units, legends, and projects
  • Functions for: queries, tables, reports, interpretations, calculations/validations, and exports

Demonstrate Reports

  • open existing reports

→ examples of R reports

Closing thoughts

  • we have a wealth of existing data
  • data on soil series should be viewed in aggregate
  • “we shouldn't let the perfect be the enemy of the good”
  • reproducible research is good
  • Soil scientists are great at collecting data, but we have to just as good at analyzing it.

Thank you, any questions...?

Links to Reports and supporting material

Additional AQP Contributors:

  • Pierre Roudier (Landcare Research)

Acknowledgements

  • Alena Stephens, John Hammerly, Jennifer Outcalt, Henry Ferguson, Paul Finnell, and others…