SoilSuite for Rwanda, Kenya and Ethiopia

Kurzfassung

The SoilSuite contains a collection of different image data products that provide information about the spectral and statistical properties of soils and other bare surfaces of three East-African countries (Rwanda, Kenya and Ethiopia). It is created using DLR's Soil Composite Mapping Processor (ScMAP), which utilises the Sentinel-2 data archive. SCMaP is a specialised processing chain for detecting and analysing bare soils/surfaces on a large (continental) scale. Bare surface and soil pixels are selected using a combined NDVI and NBR index (PVIR2) that optimises the exclusion of photosynthetically active and non-active vegetation. The index is calculated and applied for each individual pixel. All SoilSuite products are calculated based on the available Sentinel-2 scenes recorded between January 2018 and December 2021 in Africa. The data package excludes all scenes with a cloud cover of > 80 % and a sun elevation of < 20 degrees. The spectral composite products are calculated from the mean value after extensive removal of clouds, haze and snow effects at both scene and pixel level. The spectral data products are available at a pixel size of 20 m and contain 10 Sentinel-2 bands (B02, B03, B04, B05, B06, B07, B08, B08a, B11, B12).