Ground surveys of the AfSIS sentinel landscapes will provide ~9,600 new soil profile observations consisting of more than 38,000 individual soil samples. New data collection uses a hierarchical sampling approach that replicates soil and other biophysical measurements at different spatial scales, linking consistent, georeferenced ground observations to laboratory measurements, agronomic field trials and remote sensing data. Twenty-one of the 60 sentinel landscapes fall within biodiversity hotspots as designated by Conservation International. The project area excludes hot and cold desert regions based on the recently revised Köppen-Geiger climate classification, as well as the non-desert areas of Northern Africa.ĪfSIS ground survey teams are in the process of surveying and sampling this area using a spatially stratified, random sampling approach consisting of 60, 100 km2 sentinel landscapes, which are statistically representative of the variability in climate, topography and vegetation of the project area. The project area includes ~17.5 million km2 of continental sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), an area that encompasses more than 90% of Africa’s human population living in 42 countries. These efforts include the compilation and rescue of legacy soil profile data, new data collection and analysis, and system development for large-scale soil mapping using remote sensing imagery and crowdsourced ground observations. The Africa Soil Information Service (AfSIS) is developing continent-wide digital soil maps for sub-Saharan Africa using new types of soil analysis and statistical methods, and conducting agronomic field trials in selected sentinel sites.
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