COMET-Farm utilizes the SSURGO soil data base for all Cropland (pasture, range, orchard/vineyard) models in the tool. At this time, users are not able to upload their own soil data.
Users can view and download the SSURGO soil map units via the Web Soil Survey (WSS) overlayer on the mapping page of cropland, pasture, rangeland, orchard/vineyard projects on the GUI. Downloading soil data via the API is currently unavailable. For consistency in input data, users cannot upload their own soil data at this time. Due to soil and weather data limitations, COMET-Farm can only be used within most regions of the contiguous United States.
COMET-Farm relies on the SSURGO database of soil information compiled by the National Cooperative Soil Survey (3). SSURGO provides nearly complete coverage of soil data for the conterminous United States at approximately 1:15,000 to 1:20,000 scale. SSURGO data for soil texture, pH, percent rock fragments, and rooting depth are preprocessed for all map units in the WSS. During preprocessing, the soil profile is reconfigured into prescribed layers for DayCent input. Pedotransfer functions (4) are used to estimate bulk density, field capacity, wilting point, and saturated hydraulic conductivity for each soil layer. The resulting soil data are archived and accessed during the COMET-Farm session. (Paustian et al., 2017) |
Soil data is only used in Cropland, Pasture, Rangeland, and Orchard/Vineyard accounting projects.