The Global Gridded Surfaces of Selected Soil Characteristics (IGBP-DIS) data set contains 7 data surfaces: soil-carbon density, total nitrogen density, field capacity, wilting point, profile available water capacity, thermal capacity, and bulk density. All the surfaces are global, at a resolution of 5x5 arc-minutes, in ASCIIGRID format for ARC INFO. Each file contains a single ASCII array in a geographic (lat/long) projection. The ascii files consist of header information containing a set of keywords, followed by cell values in row-major order. These data surfaces were generated by the SoilData System, which was developed by the Global Soil Data Task of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) Data and Information Services (DIS). The SoilData System generates soil information and maps for geographic regions at soil depths and resolutions selected by the user. Derived surfaces of selected soil characteristics are suitable for modeling and inventory purposes. The data surfaces are also distributed as part of the Global Soil Data Products CD-ROM. The SoilData System uses a statistical bootstrapping approach to link the pedon records in the Global Pedon Database to the FAO/UNESCO Digital Soil Map of the World. It can generate maps and output data sets for a range of original and derived soil parameters, such as carbon and nitrogen density, thermal conductivity, and water-holding capacity, for any part of the world at user-selected depth ranges. The digital output can be at any resolution (in increments of 5').