Soil Survey Map of Study Area for the Forest Ecosystem Dynamics Project Spatial Data Archive

Forest Ecosystem Dynamics (FED) Project Spatial Data Archive: Soil Survey Map for Northern Part of Study Site

The Biospheric Sciences Branch (formerly Earth Resources Branch) within the Laboratory for Terrestrial Physics at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and associated University investigators are involved in a research program entitled Forest Ecosystem Dynamics (FED) which is fundamentally concerned with vegetation change of forest ecosystems at local to regional spatial scales (100 to 10,000 meters) and temporal scales ranging from monthly to decadal periods (10 to 100 years). The nature and extent of the impacts of these changes, as well as the feedbacks to global climate, may be addressed through modeling the interactions of the vegetation, soil, and energy components of the boreal ecosystem.

The Howland Forest research site lies within the Northern Experimental Forest of International Paper. The natural stands in this boreal-northern hardwood transitional forest consist of spruce-hemlock-fir, aspen-birch, and hemlock-hardwood mixtures. The topography of the region varies from flat to gently rolling, with a maximum elevation change of less than 68 m within 10 km. Due to the region's glacial history, soil drainage classes within a small area may vary widely, from well drained to poorly drained. Consequently, an elaborate patchwork of forest communities has developed, supporting exceptional local species diversity.

Additionally, almost 450 ha of the surrounding area consists of bogs and other wetlands. Generally, the soils throughout the forest are glacial tills, acid in reaction, with low fertility and high organic composition. These soils are classified primarily within three suborders: orthods, orchrepts, and aquepts. The climate is chiefly cold, humid, and continental and the region exhibits a snowpack of up to 2 m from December through March.

This data is a 1:12,500 scale map layer containing soil survey information and interpretation for a portion of the Northern Experimental Forest in Howland, Maine. The map was created by the USDA Soil Conservation Service in Orono, Maine from aerial photographs. Photocopies of the soil map were obtained and digitized at Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). The soil map was then registered to a digitial version of the United States Geological Survey 7.5 minute quadrangle of Howland.

The survey methods and narrative descriptions of the Soil Series can be found in Levine et. al.(1994). Soil coding information for the map were corrected at GSFC. Note that map units 3A and 8A were mislabeled in the publication text. An esker feature position was moved approximately 50 m West and 10 m North, because of suspicion that the esker was misregistered, as it was not contiguous with the rest of the soil map. Furthermore, the map itself seemed slightly out of proportion. The revised soil map was projected onto the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD83).