Irish Soil Information System – application of novel and traditional techniques in soil survey

Abstract

The overall objective of this project is to conduct a programme of structured research into the distribution of soil types over the whole of Ireland and construct a soil map, at 1:250,000 scale, which will identify and describe the soils according to a harmonised national legend. This map will be in digital form and will form the basis for development of a new soil information system for Ireland. This is in response to national requirements to address the need to provide soil with a level of protection similar to that for water and air and, at international level, the recently adopted official ‘Communication on a Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection in Europe’ (European Commission, 2002, 2006a) which identifies eight threats to soil: erosion, loss of organic matter, contamination, sealing, compaction, loss of biodiversity, salinisation, and landslides and flooding, and is the foundation for the pending Soil Framework Directive – SFD – (European Commission, 2006b). The work being undertaken in this project moves a National soil classification system into a new digital generation. This work is ground-breaking, as no other country has adopted such a complimentary approach of combining novel digital techniques with groundtruthing using traditional soil survey methodologies at a National scale. An estimated 44% of Ireland was surveyed at a scale of 1:126,720 in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s which was used as the basis for construction of a National Soil Map of Ireland in 1980. The National map therefore incorporates 56% of the country, which has only been surveyed at general reconnaissance scale, resulting in an existing National map (General Soil Map of Ireland) with a scale of 1:575,000. The proposed methodology of the new Irish soil map has several phases: (a) reappraisal, rationalisation and data capture for surveyed areas (terra cognita); (b) predictive mapping of unsurveyed areas (terra incognita), based on soil-landscape models and data from surveyed areas (terra cognita), including additional capture of new data for soils not previously encountered, using traditional soil survey techniques; and (c) construction of a soil information system for Ireland (SIS) that will provide a data infrastructure for organising, managing and disseminating soil information at national and international level. The resulting soil map of Ireland at 1:250,000 scale, and associated digital soil information system, will supersede the General Soil Map of Ireland that currently provides a generalised overview of soil distribution across the Country.