A comprehensive 30×30 arc‐second resolution gridded soil characteristics data set of China has been developed for use in the land surface modeling. It includes physical and chemical attributes of soils derived from 8979 soil profiles and the Soil Map of China (1:1,000,000). We used the polygon linkage method to derive the spatial distribution of soil properties. The profile attribute database and soil map are linked under the framework of the Genetic Soil Classification of China which avoids uncertainty in taxon referencing. Quality control information (i.e., sample size, soil classification level, linkage level, search radius and texture) is included to provide “confidence” information for the derived soil parameters. The data set includes 28 attributes for 8 vertical layers at the spatial resolution of 30×30 arc‐seconds. Based on this data set, the estimated storage of soil organic carbon in the upper 1 m of soil is 72.5 Pg, total N is 6.6 Pg, total P is 4.5 Pg, total K is 169.9 Pg, alkali‐hydrolysable N is 0.55 Pg, available P is 0.03 Pg, and available K is 0.61 Pg. These estimates are reasonable compared with previous studies. The distributions of soil properties are consistent with common knowledge of Chinese soil scientists and the spatial variations over large areas are well represented. The data set can be incorporated into land models to better represent the role of soils in hydrological and biogeochemical cycles in China.

ABSTRACTbility arises mainly from the limitations of the discrete data model and from the polygon-based mapping prac- A geographical information system (GIS) or expert knowledge-tice employed in conventional soil surveys.based fuzzy soil inference scheme (soil-land inference model, SoLIM) is described. The scheme consists of three major components: (i) a Zhu (1997a,b), Zhu and Band (1994), Zhu et al.model employing a similarity representation of soils, (ii) a set of Zhu et al. (1997) survey approach are first discussed to provide a context for the SoLIM, which is followed by an overview of the SoLIM. The assessment of the SoLIM for soil survey D etailed soil spatial and attribute information is through two case studies is described in the third part required for many environmental modeling and of this paper. land management applications

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