STEROPES - Stimulating novel Technologies from Earth Remote Observation to Predict European Soil carbon

Conventional high-detail soil maps are static and often based on obsolete data in relation to the time of use. STEROPES intends to overcome these limitations putting the use of satellite time series forward, to test their potential to predict cropland soil organic carbon content over various pedoclimatic conditions and cropping systems across Europe.

First, models will be constructed from the reflectance image spectra of optical satellite series, notably Sentinel-2 (ESA), based on a number of diversified areas for which soil organic carbon samples are already available.

The second phase of the project will be dedicated to analysing the influence of various factors on SOC prediction performance: soil moisture, texture, dry vegetation due to management practices, salinity.

Then, for the sites where satellite information may not enable to derive acceptable predictions, other ancillary data will be considered at a more detailed scale, using geophysical proxies to reduce the uncertainty associated with these predictions.