File Name Convention -------------------- The three files that make up this data set are named as follows: 1) 50ecosys_rootdepth_1d.asc: Mean 50% ecosystem rooting depth in meters. This is an estimation of the rooting depth that contains 50% of all roots. "1d" implies a 1-degree spatial resolution (lat/long). 2) 95ecosys_rootdepth_1d.asc: Mean 95% ecosystem rooting depth in meters. This is an estimation of the rooting depth that contains 95% of all roots. "1d" implies a 1-degree spatial resolution (lat/long). 3) ecosys_rootdepth_1d.dif: ASCII tables of "differences", or points in the original files that did not match the Land/Water mask used in this ISLSCP II data collection, and were removed from the ASCII map files. ############################################################################# ASCII Data Format ----------------- All of the files in the ISLSCP Initiative II data collection are in the ASCII, or text format. The file format of the "50ecosys_rootdepth_1d.asc" and "95ecosys_rootdepth_1d.asc" files consists of numerical fields of varying length, which are delimited by a single space and arranged in columns and rows. The files in this data set contain 360 columns by 180 rows. All values are written as real numbers. Missing values over land (i.e. Antarctica and Hawaii) are assigned the value of -88 while water bodies are assigned the value of -99 on all layers. The file "ecosys_rootdepth_1d.dif" has a total of 1282 rows and 4 columns separated by a single comma. All cells in this file which were considered water bodies in the original data set were assigned a value of -99. The files are gridded to a common equal-angle lat/long grid with a spatial resolution of 1 degree lat/long, 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 files are ordered from North to South and from West to East beginning at 180 degrees West and 90 degrees North.