ISLSCP II Global Gridded Soil Characteristics

File Name Description:
----------------------

The soils data files for this data collection are named using the following 
naming convention:

      soil_parameterdepth_1d.asc           Example: soil_bulk_dens0-150_1d.asc

Where:
parameter: The particular soil parameter 
    depth: The soil depth in cm for the estimated soil parameter
           (i.e. 0-30 or 0-150)
       1d: Identifies the spatial resolution of the data as 1 degree in both 
           latitude and longitude.
    .asc : Identifies the format of the data as ASCII, or text format.

NOTE: The files for soil thermal capacity are named 
      "soil_therm_capWC_depth_1d.asc", 
       where WC is the percent water content of the soil: 0, 10, 50, or 
       100 percent.


ASCII File Format:
------------------
All of the files in the ISLSCP Initiative II data collection are in the ASCII, 
or text format. The file format consists of numerical fields of varying length, 
which are delimited by a single space and arranged in columns and rows. The 
files each contain 360 columns by 180 rows. All values in these files are 
written as real numbers. Cells over water or permanent ice are assigned the 
value -99 or -77, respectively, on all data layers except soil texture, where 
they are assigned the values 0 and 13.

All files are gridded to a common equal-angle lat/long grid, where the 
coordinates of the upper left corner of the files are located at 180 degrees
 W, 90 degrees N and the lower right corner coordinates are located at 180 
degrees E, 90 degrees S. Data in the map files are ordered from North to 
South and from West to East beginning at 180 degrees West and 90 degrees
North.