**The Northern and Mid Latitude Soil Database (readme.doc)**

**[INTRODUCTION]{.underline}**

The Northern and Mid Latitude Soil Database includes dominant soil
characteristics for the following regions: Alaska, Canada, Conususa,
Eurasia (Italy is a separate file), Greenland, Iceland, Kazakstan,
Mexico, Mongolia, Italy and Svalbard .

The data is available in 2 GIS formats including ESRI interchange format
(\*e00) and ESRI shape files. These data have generally been compiled at
1:1 million scale and should not be presented at a scale larger than
that.

**[DATA FILE LISTING]{.underline}**

alaska.e00.gz -- gzipped ESRI interchange file, Alaska

alaskashp.tar.gz -- gzipped tar archive containing Alaska shapefile
components

canada.e00.gz -- gzipped ESRI interchange file, Canada

candadashp.tar.gz -- gzipped tar archive containing Canada shapefile
components

conususa.e00.gz - gzipped ESRI interchange file, cont. USA

conususashp.tar.gz -- gzipped tar archive containing cont. USA shapefile
components

eurasia.e00.gz -- gzipped ESRI interchange file, Eurasia (minus Italy)

eurasiashp.tar.gz -- gzipped tar archive containing Eurasia (minus
Italy) shapefile components

greenland.e00.gz -- gzipped ESRI interchange file, Greenland

greenlandshp.tar.gz -- gzipped tar archive containing Greenland
shapefile components

iceland.e00.gz -- gzipped ESRI interchange file, Iceland

icelandshp.tar.gz -- gzipped tar archive containing Iceland shapefile
components

italy.e00.gz -- gzipped ESRI interchange file, Italy

italyshp.tar.gz -- gzipped tar archive containing Italy shapefile
components

kazakstan.e00.gz -- gzipped ESRI interchange file, Kazakstan

kazakstanshp.tar.gz -- gzipped tar archive containing Kazakstan
shapefile components

mexico.e00.gz -- gzipped ESRI interchange file, Mexico

mexicoshp.tar.gz -- gzipped tar archive containing Mexico shapefile
components

mongolia.e00.gz -- gzipped ESRI interchange file, Mongolia

mongoliashp.tar.gz -- gzipped tar archive containing Mongolia shapefile
components

svalbard.e00.gz -- gzipped ESRI interchange file, Svalbard

svalbardshp.tar.gz -- gzipped tar archive containing Svalbard shapefile
components

[PROJECTION PARAMETERS]{.underline}

Lambert Azimuthal Equal Area Projection

Datum NONE, Units METERS

Radius of Sphere of Reference 6370997.00000

Longitude of Center of Projection 180^o^ 0' 0.00"

Latitude of Center of Projection 90^o^ 0' 0.00"

False Easting 0.0000

False Northing 0.0000

[DATA FORMAT]{.underline}

Data is in the US soil classification system and includes the
distribution of soil types (%) within a map unit (polygon). Data is
available in ESRI shapefile format and ESRI interchange file format and
include the same attribute values with the exception of ITALY which does
not contain distribution values. (The WRB classification and its legend
dominant mapping symbol (US) are included, making it possible to map the
Italy data with the other files.) The data files (except Italy) include
the following attributes (the listing is from the \*PAT of an ESRI
interchange file, the \*dbf component of the shapefiles will be
similar):

AREA (metres)

PERIMETER

COVER# (internal ARC/INFO #)

COVER-ID (internal ARC/INFO ID#)

MAPUNIT_ID (link to original source data, 7 CHAR)

GELISOL_PCT (3 Integer -- percentage of polygon that is Gelisol)

HISTOSOL_PCT (3 Integer - percentage of polygon that is Histosol)

MOLLISOL_PCT (3 Integer - percentage of polygon that is Mollisol)

VERTISOL_PCT (3 Integer - percentage of polygon that is Vertisol)

ARIDISOL_PCT (3 Integer - percentage of polygon that is Aridisol)

ANDISOL_PCT (3 Integer - percentage of polygon that is Andisol)

ENTISOL_PCT (3 Integer - percentage of polygon that is Entisol)

ULTISOL_PCT (3 Integer - percentage of polygon that is Ultisol)

SPODOSOL_PCT (3 Integer - percentage of polygon that is Spodosol)

INCEPTISOL_PCT (3 Integer - percentage of polygon that is Inceptisol)

ALFISOL_PCT (3 Integer - percentage of polygon that is Alfisol)

NATRIC_PCT (3 Integer - percentage of polygon that is Natric type)

AQU_PCT (3 Integer - percentage of polygon that is Aqu suborder)

WATER_PCT (3 Integer - percentage of polygon that is water)

ROCKLAND_PCT (3 Integer - percentage of polygon that is rockland)

GLACIER_PCT (3 Integer - percentage of polygon that is glacier)

MISC_PCT (3 Integer - percentage of polygon that is miscellaneous)

TURBEL_PCT (3 Integer - percentage of polygon that is Turbel of the
Gelisol order)

ORTHEL_PCT (3 Integer - percentage of polygon that is Orthel of the
Gelisol order)

HISTEL_PCT (3 Integer - percentage of polygon that is Histel of the
Gelisol order)

\*\*Note: the last three attributes further subdivide the Gelisol order.

The shapefile tar archive and the interchange files were compressed
using the gzip utility in UNIX. You may uncompress these files using
'gunzip' in UNIX, or you may use Windows based utilities such as WinZip
or PKZip. The tar file archive may be unpacked using 'tar xvf' in UNIX
or WinZip in Windows. Both the shapefiles and interchange files include
vector (polygon) data. You may read the shapefiles directly into ArcView
or ArcGis, or you may download a free viewer (ArcExplorer) from ESRI at
[http:///www.esri.com/arcexplorer]() . Use the IMPORT command with the
\<COVER\> option at the ARC prompt to reformat the interchange files
into ARC/INFO coverages. Utilities for ArcView are also available for
reading interchange files.

[GRAPHICS]{.underline}

*northmid.jpg* - the Northern and Mid Latitude Map at 1:15 000 000 scale

*polar.jpg -* produces the Northern Circumpolar Soil Map at 1:10 000 000
scale

[NOTES]{.underline}

For an additional QC of these files, a 'total percent' column was added.
In several instances records/polygons were found that did not contain
any data (soil type was not recorded for polygons composed of over 90%
rock or ice). In some cases these may be purposeful omissions (e.g. No
MUID, or an SMU of -2), and in some cases it may be due to errors in
digitizing or recording attribute data. The following files contained
instances of 'no data' values (some have been fixed):

Canada - a sliver polygon with no attributes was removed

Conususa -- 3 sliver polygons with no attributes were removed

Greenland -- there is no attribute data for 66 data records that do not
have an MUID

Mexico -- 5 sliver polygons with no attributes were removed

Eurasia -- there are 499 records that do not have any attribute data

You can identify these records by their SMU value:

SMU = -2 (476 polygons)

SMU = 0 (21 polygons)

SMU = 330228 (1 polygon)

SMU = 33740 (1 polygon)

[RECOMMENDED CITATION (Northern and Mid Latitude Soil
Database)]{.underline}

Cryosol Working Group. 2003. Northern and Mid Latitude Soil Database,
Version 1. National Soil Database, Research Branch, Agriculture and
Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, Canada. Available on-line
\[http://www.daac.ornl.gov\] from Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Distributed Active Archive Center, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, U.S.A.

**[REFERENCES]{.underline}**

This database was developed through a cooperative effort of: Agriculture
and Agri-Food Canada, the US Dept. of Agriculture, the Russian Academy
of Agricultural Sciences, the University of Copenhagen Institute of
Geography, the European Soil Bureau, the University of Manchester
Institute of Landscape Ecology, MTT Agrifood Research Finland, and the
Agricultural Research Institute Iceland. The following resources were
used in compiling the soil database:

Aarnalds, O. and E. Gretarsson. 2001. Generalized Soil Map of Iceland.
2^nd^ Edition. Agriculural Research Institute (Rala), Reykjavik,
Iceland.

Dorzhgotov, D. and N.A. Nogina. 1990. Khors (The Soil Map of Mongolia).
Pp. 66-67 in: Undesniy Atlas (Atlas of Mongolia). BNMAU-in Shinzhlekh
Ukhaany Akademi, Ulan Bator, Mongolia.

European Soil Bureau. 1999. The European Soil Database, version 1.0.
CD-ROM. Ipra, Italy.

Fridland, V.M. (Ed.). 1998. Pochvennaya Karta RSFSR (Soil Map of the
Russian Republic), RSFSR. V.V. Dokuchayev Soils Institute, Moscow, Scale
1:2,500,000.

International Permafrost Association. 1997. Circum-Arctic Map of
Permafrost and Ground Ice Conditions. (J. Brown, O.J. Ferrians Jr., J.A.
Heginbottom, E.S. Melnikov, Eds.). U.S. Geological Survey, Information
Services, Denver, Colorado, U.S.

Jakobsen, B.H. and A. Eiby. 1997. A Soil Map of Greenland. II
International Conference, Cryopedology, August 1997, Syktyvkar, Russia.

Schlesinger, W.H. and J.F.B. Mitchell. 1987. Climate model
simulations....

Soil Classification Working Group. 1998. The Canadian System of Soil
Classification. Third Ed. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Publ 1646
(Revised), 187 pp.

Soil Science Staff. 1999. A Basic System of Soil Classification for
Making and Interpreting Soil Surveys, Second Ed. NRCS, USDA, Lincoln,
NE, U.S.

Tarnocai, C. and B. Lacelle. 1996. The Soil Organic Carbon Digital
Database of Canada. Research Branch, Agriculture Canada, Ottawa, Canada.

U.S. Soil Conservation Service. 1994. The State Soil Geographic
Database, STATSGO. NRCS, USDA, Lincoln, NE, U.S.

Uspanov, U.U. (Ed.) 1976. Pochvennaya Karta Kazakhskoy SSR (Soil Map of
the Kazakh SSR). GUGK, Moscow, Scale 1:2,500,000.