Available Water Capacity (AWC) is a parameter that describes the soil’s ability to supply plants with the water they need and is presented as a volume of soil water percentage. The soil’s physical and chemical characteristics, such as organic matter, rock fragmentation, the soil's bulk density and soil texture all influence the soil's AWC. AWC can be used as an indicator of plant growth, nutrient mineralisation and the soil's leaching potential as well as to predict yields, and anticipate droughtiness.
DecipherAg uses data from the National Soil Grid of Australia which has been modeled from existing soil information produced from sampling, laboratory testing, and remote sensing.
Using spatial processing to create a visual representation of the AWC across the whole of Australia, DecipherAg users can clip the imagery to a paddock, farm or national level. The AWC imagery layer allows users to view their soil's AWC at 6 different depths (0-5cm, 5-15cm, 15-30cm, 30-60cm, 60-100cm and 100-200cm) to help assist growers to make informed nutritional and management decisions.
The data range and modeling methods used to develop the AWC data set, have been sourced from a range of resources. To view the list of data sources used to develop the National Soil Grid of Australia, click here.