2. Specifications

Model input

Parameter	Datasets	Sources
Soil Properties
Soil pH, CEC, availability of CaCO₃, NPK content	Soil Chemical properties at European scale based on LUCAS 2009/2012 topsoil data	Ballabio, C., Lugato, E., Fernández-Ugalde, O., Orgiazzi, A., Jones, A., Borrelli, P., Montanarella, L. and Panagos, P., 2019. Mapping LUCAS topsoil chemical properties at European scale using Gaussian process regression. Geoderma, 355: 113912.
Soil organic carbon (SOC) content	LUCAS 2018 TOPSOIL data	Fernandez-Ugalde, O; Scarpa, S; Orgiazzi, A.; Panagos, P.; Van Liedekerke, M; Marechal A. & Jones, A. LUCAS 2018 Soil Module. Presentation of dataset and results, EUR 31144 EN, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg. 2022, ISBN 978-92-76-54832-4, doi:10.2760/215013, JRC129926. Orgiazzi, A., Ballabio, C., Panagos, P., Jones, A., Fernández-Ugalde, O. 2018. LUCAS Soil, the largest expandable soil dataset for Europe: A review. European Journal of Soil Science, 69(1): 140–153. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejss.12499.
Soil texture, coarse fractions, bulk density, rooting depth	Topsoil physical properties for Europe (based on LUCAS topsoil data)	Ballabio C., Panagos P., Montanarella L. Mapping topsoil physical properties at European scale using the LUCAS database (2016) Geoderma, 261 , pp. 110-123.
Soil type (WRB-LEV1), soil texture class (TEXT-SRF-DOM), soil depth to rock (DR), rooting depth (ROO), soil erosion, organic carbon class (OC_TOP), parent material (PAR-MAT-DOM). Base cation weathering	ESDB v2.0 and soil erosion maps (JRC)	The European Soil Database distribution version 2.0, European Commission and the European Soil Bureau Network, CD-ROM, EUR 19945 EN, 2004. Panagos Panos. The European soil database (2006) GEO: connexion, 5(7), pp. 32–33. Reinds, G.J., Posch, M., & de Vries, W. (2001). A semi-empirical dynamic soil acidification model for use in spatially explicit integrated assessment models for Europe. (Alterra-rapport; No. 84). Alterra. https://edepot.wur.nl/33685
Slope	EU-DEM	European Digital Elevation Model (EU-DEM), European Environmental Agency, 2024 (Accessed on 01-08-2024).
C-factor, erosion	USLE model	Panagos, P., Borrelli, P., Meusburger, C., Alewell, C., Lugato, E., Montanarella, L., 2015. Estimating the soil erosion cover-management factor at European scale. Land Use Policy Journal. 48C, 38–50.
Livestock Data
Livestock units, animal numbers	Eurostat	Animal populations by NUTS 2 region. Poultry types by utilized agricultural area, size classes of livestock, and NUTS 2 region. Main livestock indicators by NUTS 2 region
Excretion rates	Common Reporting Format of 2019 – 2021.	UNFCCC, 2025. Reporting requirements \| UNFCCC
Crop Data
Percentage and area of natural grassland (not fertilized land) and rough grazing, crop areas,	Eurostat Agrarstrukturerhebung (for Germany)	Crop production in EU standard humidity by NUTS 2 region. Agrarstrukturerhebung 2020.
Crop yields	Eurostat Agrarstrukturerhebung (for Germany)	Crop production in EU standard humidity by NUTS 2 region. Agrarstrukturerhebung 2020.
Fertilizer Data
Fertilizer use and type	FAOSTAT and IFASTAT	Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 1997. FAOSTAT statistical database. Rome: FAO. International Fertilizer Association, 2024, https://www.ifastat.org/.
Farm Properties
Arable farm size, farming system, crop rotation, areas with organic farming, irrigation, crop cover (arable land), perennial grass cover (used for C balance) Nitrogen Vulnerable Zones (NVZs)	EUROSTAT Agrarstrukturerhebung (2020; for Germany) Farm Structure Survey	European Commission, 2020. Eurostat statistical database. Brussels: European Commission. Agrarstrukturerhebung, 2024. European Environmental Agency, 2024. WISE WFD Protected Areas under the Water Framework Directive - PUBLIC VERSION - version 5.1, Jul. 2024
Soil cover and Tillage practice	FSS	European Commission, downloaded September 2009
Areas under derogation	EC	European Commission, downloaded May 2019.
Crop residue removal index	Smerald et al. (2023)	Dataset: Global crop residue management dataset (1997–2021)
Emission Factors
N excretion of animals, CH4 emissions from manure management system and enteric fermentation	National GHG inventory submissions	United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, 2020. National Inventory Submissions 2020. Bonn: United Nations Climate Change.
N2O, CO2 (peatland) emission factors, global warming potentials	IPCC	IPCC, 2019. 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, Volume 4, Agriculture, Forestry, and Other Land Use. IPCC National Greenhouse Gas Inventories Programme. Institute for Global
NH3 emission factors	EMEP	https://www.eea.europa.eu/en/analysis/publications/emep-eea-guidebook-2023, Table 3-9, Chapter 3.B for manure; Table 3-2, Chapter 3.D for mineral fertilisers.
Climate Data
Precipitation, evapotranspiration, temperature, wind speed	ERA5	Hersbach, H., Bell, B., Berrisford, P., Biavati, G., Horányi, A., Muñoz Sabater, J., Nicolas, J., Peubey, C., Radu, R., Rozum, I., Schepers, D., Simmons, A., Soci, C., Dee, D., Thépaut, J-N. (2023): ERA5 hourly data on single levels from 1940 to present. Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) Climate Data Store (CDS), DOI: 10.24381/cds.adbb2d47 (Accessed on 10-09-2024).
Water Flux
Precipitation surplus, surface runoff, and groundwater leaching fractions	Keuskamp et al. (2012)	J. A. Keuskamp, G. Van Drecht, A. F. Bouwman (2012). European-scale modelling of groundwater denitrification and associated N 2O production. Environmental Pollution, 165, pp. 67-76, doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2012.02.008.
Nutrient Composition
Composition of organic fertilizers		Multiple sources based on literature and database study
Composition of crop (residues)		Multiple sources based on literature and database study
Composition of chemical fertilizers		Multiple sources based on literature and database study, including expert judgement of Römkens (2024)
Ca, Cd, Cu, K, Mg, Na, NH3, NOx, SOx, Zn deposition	EMEP	Van Loon, M., Tarrasón, L., Posch, M., 2005. Modelling Base Cations in Europe. EMEP/MSC-W&CCE Note2/2005. ISSN 0804-2446. EMEP MSC-W, https://emep.int/mscw/mscw_moddata.html.
Land Use
Land use type	CORINE Land Cover (2018)	European Union, Copernicus Land Monitoring Service 2021, European Environment Agency (EEA). Corine Land Cover. DOI: CORINE Land Cover 2018 (vector/raster 100 m), Europe, 6-yearly — Copernicus Land Monitoring Service (Accessed on 01-08-2024).

Parameter

Datasets

Sources

Soil Properties

Soil pH, CEC, availability of CaCO₃, NPK content

Soil Chemical properties at European scale based on LUCAS 2009/2012 topsoil data

Ballabio, C., Lugato, E., Fernández-Ugalde, O., Orgiazzi, A., Jones, A., Borrelli, P., Montanarella, L. and Panagos, P., 2019. Mapping LUCAS topsoil chemical properties at European scale using Gaussian process regression. Geoderma, 355: 113912.

Soil organic carbon (SOC) content

LUCAS 2018 TOPSOIL data

Fernandez-Ugalde, O; Scarpa, S; Orgiazzi, A.; Panagos, P.; Van Liedekerke, M; Marechal A. & Jones, A. LUCAS 2018 Soil Module. Presentation of dataset and results, EUR 31144 EN, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg. 2022, ISBN 978-92-76-54832-4, doi:10.2760/215013, JRC129926.

Orgiazzi, A., Ballabio, C., Panagos, P., Jones, A., Fernández-Ugalde, O. 2018. LUCAS Soil, the largest expandable soil dataset for Europe: A review. European Journal of Soil Science, 69(1): 140–153. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejss.12499.

Soil texture, coarse fractions, bulk density, rooting depth

Topsoil physical properties for Europe (based on LUCAS topsoil data)

Ballabio C., Panagos P., Montanarella L. Mapping topsoil physical properties at European scale using the LUCAS database (2016) Geoderma, 261 , pp. 110-123.

Soil type (WRB-LEV1), soil texture class (TEXT-SRF-DOM), soil depth to rock (DR), rooting depth (ROO), soil erosion, organic carbon class (OC_TOP), parent material (PAR-MAT-DOM).

Base cation weathering

ESDB v2.0 and soil erosion maps (JRC)

The European Soil Database distribution version 2.0, European Commission and the European Soil Bureau Network, CD-ROM, EUR 19945 EN, 2004.

Panagos Panos. The European soil database (2006) GEO: connexion, 5(7), pp. 32–33.

Reinds, G.J., Posch, M., & de Vries, W. (2001). A semi-empirical dynamic soil acidification model for use in spatially explicit integrated assessment models for Europe. (Alterra-rapport; No. 84). Alterra. https://edepot.wur.nl/33685

Slope

EU-DEM

European Digital Elevation Model (EU-DEM), European Environmental Agency, 2024 (Accessed on 01-08-2024).

C-factor, erosion

USLE model

Panagos, P., Borrelli, P., Meusburger, C., Alewell, C., Lugato, E., Montanarella, L., 2015. Estimating the soil erosion cover-management factor at European scale. Land Use Policy Journal. 48C, 38–50.

Livestock Data

Livestock units, animal numbers

Eurostat

Animal populations by NUTS 2 region.

Poultry types by utilized agricultural area, size classes of livestock, and NUTS 2 region.

Main livestock indicators by NUTS 2 region

Excretion rates

Common Reporting Format of 2019 – 2021.

UNFCCC, 2025. Reporting requirements | UNFCCC

Crop Data

Percentage and area of natural grassland (not fertilized land) and rough grazing, crop areas,

Eurostat

Agrarstrukturerhebung (for Germany)

Crop production in EU standard humidity by NUTS 2 region.

Agrarstrukturerhebung 2020.

Crop yields

Eurostat

Agrarstrukturerhebung (for Germany)

Crop production in EU standard humidity by NUTS 2 region.

Agrarstrukturerhebung 2020.

Fertilizer Data

Fertilizer use and type

FAOSTAT and IFASTAT

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 1997. FAOSTAT statistical database. Rome: FAO. International Fertilizer Association, 2024, https://www.ifastat.org/.

Farm Properties

Arable farm size, farming system, crop rotation, areas with organic farming, irrigation, crop cover (arable land), perennial grass cover (used for C balance)

Nitrogen Vulnerable Zones (NVZs)

EUROSTAT

Agrarstrukturerhebung (2020; for Germany)

Farm Structure Survey

European Commission, 2020. Eurostat statistical database. Brussels: European Commission.

Agrarstrukturerhebung, 2024.

European Environmental Agency, 2024. WISE WFD Protected Areas under the Water Framework Directive - PUBLIC VERSION - version 5.1, Jul. 2024

Soil cover and Tillage practice

FSS

European Commission, downloaded September 2009

Areas under derogation

European Commission, downloaded May 2019.

Crop residue removal index

Smerald et al. (2023)

Dataset: Global crop residue management dataset (1997–2021)

Emission Factors

N excretion of animals, CH4 emissions from manure management system and enteric fermentation

National GHG inventory submissions

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, 2020. National Inventory Submissions 2020. Bonn: United Nations Climate Change.

N2O, CO2 (peatland) emission factors, global warming potentials

IPCC

IPCC, 2019. 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, Volume 4, Agriculture, Forestry, and Other Land Use. IPCC National Greenhouse Gas Inventories Programme. Institute for Global

NH3 emission factors

EMEP

https://www.eea.europa.eu/en/analysis/publications/emep-eea-guidebook-2023, Table 3-9, Chapter 3.B for manure; Table 3-2, Chapter 3.D for mineral fertilisers.

Climate Data

Precipitation, evapotranspiration, temperature, wind speed

ERA5

Hersbach, H., Bell, B., Berrisford, P., Biavati, G., Horányi, A., Muñoz Sabater, J., Nicolas, J., Peubey, C., Radu, R., Rozum, I., Schepers, D., Simmons, A., Soci, C., Dee, D., Thépaut, J-N. (2023): ERA5 hourly data on single levels from 1940 to present. Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) Climate Data Store (CDS), DOI: 10.24381/cds.adbb2d47 (Accessed on 10-09-2024).

Water Flux

Precipitation surplus, surface runoff, and groundwater leaching fractions

Keuskamp et al. (2012)

J. A. Keuskamp, G. Van Drecht, A. F. Bouwman (2012). European-scale modelling of groundwater denitrification and associated N 2O production. Environmental Pollution, 165, pp. 67-76, doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2012.02.008.

Nutrient Composition

Composition of organic fertilizers

Multiple sources based on literature and database study

Composition of crop (residues)

Multiple sources based on literature and database study

Composition of chemical fertilizers

Multiple sources based on literature and database study, including expert judgement of Römkens (2024)

Ca, Cd, Cu, K, Mg, Na, NH3, NOx, SOx, Zn deposition

EMEP

Van Loon, M., Tarrasón, L., Posch, M., 2005. Modelling Base Cations in Europe. EMEP/MSC-W&CCE Note2/2005. ISSN 0804-2446. EMEP MSC-W, https://emep.int/mscw/mscw_moddata.html.

Land Use

Land use type

CORINE Land Cover (2018)

European Union, Copernicus Land Monitoring Service 2021, European Environment Agency (EEA). Corine Land Cover. DOI: CORINE Land Cover 2018 (vector/raster 100 m), Europe, 6-yearly — Copernicus Land Monitoring Service (Accessed on 01-08-2024).

Model output

Miterra generates output of the following categories:

Atmospheric emissions
- NH₃ emissions from housing, farmyard, grazing excretions, storage of manure, and fertilization.
- N₂O emissions from storage of manure, fertilization, and crop residues.
- NO_x emissions from housing, grazing excretions, storage of manure, and fertilization.
- CH₄ emissions from housing (enteric fermentation) and storage of manure.
- CO₂ emissions from soil oganic matter decomposition.
Runoff and leaching
- Surface or subsurface runoff of N, P, K, S, Ca, Mg, Cd, Cu, and Zn to surface water.
- Leaching of N, P, K, S, Ca, Mg, Cd, Cu, and Zn to surface and groundwater.
Nutrient budgets and balances
- N, P, K, S, Ca, Mg, Cd, Cu, and Zn input to, output from, and balances in the soil.
Soil organic matter
- Long-term SOC and SON turnover.
- Annual SOC and SON balances.