Dataset Information

This page provides general information about the NSCN database and its contents. The documents below describe: 1) how the data products on this website relate to one another; 2) data access and fair use policies; 3) methods for computing soil C stocks and assessing data quality; 4) names and definitions for database variables; 5) the amount and distribution of data in the database. The links below with information about the database are open to any visitor to this page, but data access requires membership in the NSCN. Membership also provides access to metadata not available on this page, such as climate and landuse attributes for the sites in the database.

• Data Browsing Overview: A broad overview of how to access and browse data, and how the data products on this website relate to one another. For a quick-start user guide to data access and browsing, click here.
  

• Data Access and Use Policy: Information about data access and fair use, including citation and acknowledgment recommendations. Citation and acknowledgment guidelines also appear on the data browsing page because these are very important to the success of this data-sharing effort.

• Calculations and Data Quality: Describes how soil C stocks were computed in the database, and our initial plans for assigning data quality scores to the layers and profiles in the database.

• Variable Names and Definitions (download): Lists and defines the variables used to report and describe data at all levels of the database hierarchy: Sites, Profiles, and Layers; plus metadata and variables that are used to describe fractionation data, disturbances and experimental treatments. Some of the variables have controlled vocabularies.
  

Information about the data in the National dataset:

• Map of sites in the database- each point denotes a site represented in the database

• Database summary statistics (download)- distribution of sites, profiles, and layers in the database; list of contributors with number of sites visited by each

• Carbon data availability (download)- counters showing number of layers per profile, number of layers in each profile that have %C, bulk density, and SOC values, and whether each profile has its computed C stock respresented in the Carbon to 1m data report. 

• Non-Carbon data availability (download)- counters showing number of layers per profile, number of layers per profile with non-carbon data (e.g., %N, particle sizes)
  

• Site and Profile information (download)- site and profile-level ecological, geographic and other metadata, contributor information

Information about the data in the Alaska Deep Soil C Project component of the National dataset:

• Alaska Database summary statistics (download)- distribution of Alaska sites, profiles, and layers in the database; list of contributors with number of sites visited by each

• Alaska Site and Profile information (download)- specific to the Alaska Deep Soil Carbon Project dataset, same variables as above

The NSCN database is a work in progress. We are continually refining and searching for ways to improve all aspects of database functionality. Please email feedback to nscn-support@george.lbl.gov, or post to our forum topic on known database problems.

Please contribute some of your data to this effort! To get started, visit our data contribution page, where you can download templates and guidelines, or contact the Network Coordinator.