Dataset of global subsoil compaction susceptibility for different soil tillage systems

A thorough explanation of the subsurface compaction susceptibility index (SCSI) computations is given by Keller and Or (2022). The average tractor size at the national level, which was determined using (i) global tractor density data, (ii) a mechanization-level index, and (iii) tractor power as a function of farm size, served as the basis for estimates of soil stress. The method yields representative estimates of subsurface stresses that are similar to those brought on by modern combine harvesters. Based on soil texture and climate-averaged water content, the SCSI was determined by dividing the representative soil strength with the typical machinery-induced soil stress for a depth of 0.5 m.We used a global gridded data set that classified six distinct tillage systems in order to compute zonal statistics of tillage and no-till zones (Porwollik et al., 2019). The classes pertaining to conservation ('Reduced', 'Conservation Agriculture'), conventional ('Conventional annual', 'Rotational'), and traditional ('Traditional annual', 'Traditional rotational') tillage techniques were combined to simplify the classification. This dataset is provided as a NetCDF file containing: the global SCSI values for arable land masks for three tillage systems used for calculating the zonal statistics