
      
  Hybrid (30-second for CONUS and 5-min elsewhere) 16-category soil texture map. 

       a) data file: 
          (1)topsoil30snew.gz: 0-30 cm soil texture (Unit: integer, ranging 
               from 0 to 16. 0: missing point)
          (2) botsoil30snew.gz: 30-100 cm soil texture (unit: see above)
       b) resolution: 30-second
       c) program: read_texture.f
          To save the disk space, all input data are in character
          strings (either 1-character string (for land-use, land-water, vegetation
          fraction) or two-character string (for soil temperature)). The program
          provided here is used to transfer these characters into integer.
       d) Note: Data start at latitude 90 and longitude -180. The file is 
          in direct access format and each direct access record contains 
          data in one latitude circle beginning at -180 degree longitude, 
          and ending at +180 degree. The data are arranged to start at 
          northernmost latitude (north pole) and end at south pole     
       e) Note: The FAO two-layer 5-minute 16-category global soil texture maps  
          are remaped into global 30-second regular lat-lon grid. Within CONUS,
          the soil texture is then replaced by the 30-second STATSGO data 
          obtained from http://www.essc.psu.edu/soil_info/index.cgi?soil_data&index.html.
          The dominant soil texture from 0-30 cm (30-100 cm) from multi-layer 
          STATSGO soil was selected to match the FAO soil depths and to produce 
          the top (bottom) soil texture.
 

