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. 2019 Dec 1:355:113912.
doi: 10.1016/j.geoderma.2019.113912.

Mapping LUCAS topsoil chemical properties at European scale using Gaussian process regression

Cristiano Ballabio  1 , Emanuele Lugato  1 , Oihane Fernández-Ugalde  1 , Alberto Orgiazzi  1 , Arwyn Jones  1 , Pasquale Borrelli  2 , Luca Montanarella  1 , Panos Panagos  1
Affiliations

Mapping LUCAS topsoil chemical properties at European scale using Gaussian process regression

Cristiano Ballabio et al. Geoderma. .

Abstract

This paper presents the second part of the mapping of topsoil properties based on the Land Use and Cover Area frame Survey (LUCAS). The first part described the physical properties (Ballabio et al., 2016) while this second part includes the following chemical properties: pH, Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC), calcium carbonates (CaCO3), C:N ratio, nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K). The LUCAS survey collected harmonised data on changes in land cover and the state of land use for the European Union (EU). Among the 270,000 land use and cover observations selected for field visit, approximately 20,000 soil samples were collected in 24 EU Member States in 2009 together with more than 2000 samples from Bulgaria and Romania in 2012. The chemical properties maps for the European Union were produced using Gaussian process regression (GPR) models. GPR was selected for its capacity to assess model uncertainty and the possibility of adding prior knowledge in the form of covariance functions to the model. The derived maps will establish baselines that will help monitor soil quality and provide guidance to agro-environmental research and policy developments in the European Union.

Keywords: C:N ratio; Cation Exchange Capacity; Gaussian process regression; Mapping; Nitrogen; Phosphorus; Potassium; pH.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Predicted vs observed values for the topsoil properties discussed in Section 4.2. The blue line represent a linear fit for predicted-vs-observed data. The black line is the diagonal and the contours represent point densities. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Variable importance metrics for the topsoil properties discussed in Section 4.2.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Map of topsoil pH in water.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Map of the difference between pH in water and pH in CaCl2 0.01 M solution.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Map of topsoil CEC.
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
Map of topsoil nitrogen content.
Fig. 7
Fig. 7
Map of the topsoil C:N ratio.
Fig. 8
Fig. 8
Map of topsoil phosphorous content.
Fig. 9
Fig. 9
Map of topsoil potassium content.
Fig. 10
Fig. 10
GPR prediction variance for nitrogen, C:N ratio, pH in water and CaCl2 0.01 M solution.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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