The IIASA-LUC Project Georeferenced Database of Russia. Volumes 1 and 2: Soil and Terrain Digital Database (SOTER)

The IIASA-LUC georeferenced database for the former U.S.S.R. was created within the framework of the project "Modeling Land Use and Land Cover Changes in Europe and Northern Asia" (LUC). For Russia, essential information on relief, soil, vegetation, land cover and use, etc., for routine environmental analysis was lacking when the LUC project started developing the database. In addition, the environmental data on the former U.S.S.R. which were available occurred in formats (papers, tables,etc.) that in general could not be used with modern information technology, and in particular in model building. In creating the LUC project database, we have established a threefold task: (1) to obtain the relevant information for the LUC project modeling excercises; (2) to develop data which is applicable to modern information technology; (3) to contribute a series of digital databases which could be applied for a number of other specific analyses by the national and international scientific community. In defining the tasks it was agreed to create a set of digital databases which could be handled by geographic information systems (GIS). The full set of georeferenced digital databases was combined into the LUC project's GIS, using ARC/INFO. However, each individual item (physiography, soil, vegetation, etc.) was created as a separate digital database, allowing each item to be used independently, according to user's needs. The complete set of the unique georeferenced digital databases for the territory of the former U.S.S.R. is described in the IIASA/LUC volumes: Volume 1 -- Physiography (landforms, slope conditions, elevations); Volume 2 -- Soil; Volume 3 -- Soil Degradation Status (Russia); Volume 4 -- Vegetation; Volume 5 -- Land Categories; Volume 6 -- Agricultural regionalization. The main objective of the research summarized in this report was to compile, fully correlate, and update the FAO Soil Map of the World for the territory of Russia. It originated from several discussions with Dr. W. Sombroek (FAO), R. Brinkman (FAO), R. Oldeman (ISRIC) which took place at the International Soil Reference Information Center (ISRIC) in 1988-1989. These discussions were initiated through research being carried out by the project on Global Assessment of Human-Induced Soil Degredation (UNEP/ISRIC, 1990) which urgently required reliable soil information on Russia. It was recognized that several other environment related activities were facing a similar problem. In response to the discussions, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) launched a project in 1993. According to the Letter of Agreement (CMT 73197) signed by the FAO and Dokuchaev Soil Institute, the project was aimed at preparing "a Soil map of Russia at 1:5 million scale using the Revised Legend of the Soil Map of the World (1988) and corresponding database reflecting the information contained in the map of the same region." The Agreement defined six layers of information to be distinguished for digitizing: (1) Soil mapping unit boundaries; (2) Topographic lines (rivers, contour lines and coastal line); (3) Geographical coordinates (longitude, latitude); (4) Physiographic (landform) units; (5) Graticule of the map; (6) Province boundaries. In 1994, the requested products were completed and transferred to the FAO for digitizing by scanning. At that time, however, the compilation of a digital database could not be completed at FAO. In 1995 all materials were passed to the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) with the objective to complete the database. Considerable efforts by the GIS group of the project "Modeling Land Use and Land Cover Changes in Europe and Northers Asia" at IIASA were put into checking, correcting, and linking the digital data, and making them mutually consistent. Completion of the digital database at IIASA, the first product of this kind to be published on the territory of Russia, has provided a more comprehensive understanding of the territory and its environment. Using modern GIS techniques, this knowledge is now readily available to any scientific or applied analyses of the land resources and environment of Russia

The IIASA-LUC Project Georeferenced Database of the former USSR. Volume 3: Soil Degradation Status in Russia

The IIASA/LUC georeferenced database for the former USSR (in part only for Russia), was created within the framework of the project "Modeling of Land Use and Land Cover Changes in Europe and Northern Asia" (LUC). For Russia, essential information on relief, soil, vegetation, land cover and use, etc. for routine environmental analysis was lacking when the LUC project first started developing the database. In addition, the environmental data on the former USSR which was available occurred in formats (papers, tables, etc.) that in general could not be used with modern information technology, and in particular in model building. In creating the LUC project database, we have established a threefold task: (1) to obtain the relevant information for the LUC project modeling exercises; (2) to develop data which is applicable to modern information technology; (3) to contribute a series of digital databases which could be applied for a number of other specific analysis by the national and international scientific community. In defining the tasks it was agreed to create a set of digital databases which could be handled by a geographic information systems (GIS). This required that the data had to be georeferenced. The complete set of georeferenced digital databases was combined into the LUC project's GIS, using ARC/INFO. However, each individual item (physiography, soil, vegetation, etc.) was created as an unique specific digital database, allowing to be used separately, depending on user's needs. The complete series of the unique georeferenced digital databases is described in several IIASA/LUC volumes: Volume 1 -- Physiography (land forms, slope conditions, elevations); Volume 2 -- Soil; Volume 3 -- Soil degradation status (Russia); Volume 4 -- Vegetation; Volume 5 -- Land categories; Volume 6 -- Agricultural regionalization

On the soil fund of Russia

The soil reserves of Russia are assessed with respect to soil classes and individual soil types. The data obtained are analyzed from the viewpoints of spatial distribution of soil reserves and theoretical aspects of soil management. The conclusion is made that there are no significant reserves of soils for agricultural development in Russia and that the soils considered typical (zonal) do not represent the prevailing (modal) soils within corresponding landscape zones

Correlation between the legends of the 1:2.5 M soil map of the Soviet Union and the FAO soil map of the world

The legend of the 1:2.5 M Soil Map of the Soviet Union is the basis for the integrated soil informational space of the FSU countries. Its correlation with the system used by the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) makes it possible to relate it to soil nomenclature of other countries and to international standards of soil data interpretation